10 Tips to Get and Keep Customers

"Customer is king", "Our customers are not strangers to us, they are part of what we do". These are common cliches we speak and write on the walls of our businesses and in reception area. The question which is rarely asked is "Do we mean all that we say?". When you customer coughs, your company performances feels the threat of that cold. The tremors and challenges your customer faces have a direct bearing on your profits and your targets. Once you obtain a customer, they should be kept lest they move on to the next supplier. Once you lose a customer or potential customer, consider that you have lost more than one because once one client tells the next, they tell the next and before you know it you have been sidelined and desserted. Reputation is key. What your business is known for is important as that is the bait which customers hook onto. Complacency and assumption tend to get the better of most companies as they relax and hope the customer will stay without deliberate efforts to keep them. In my business career spanning 15 years, I have been both a client (on the receiving end) and a solutions provider (supplier) and I have learned a lot in terms of what customers need which suppliers sometimes overlook. I do not consider myself to be a marketing specialist but I can tell you all I have seen and made use of.

Essential keys to Getting and Keeping customers

1. Properly Planned Communication strategy- every relationship relies on effective communication channels being available between the parties in a relationship. The moment you stop communicating with your customer, that relationship dies a natural death. The next time you want to do business with them you will be taken through the vetting process again as you are now a stranger. Be in the customer's face. Show willingness to serve them, fulfill their needs and make that priority. Profits will come. Regular email and phone call makes a difference. Silence on the other hand can be mistaken for; either you now have enough business you don't need more or your company has shut down.

2 Presence on the Market - You will never get new customers out of the blue without them seeing something somewhere about you. It could be a website, a billboard, an email forwarded to them, a pamphlet or company profile. Stray customers should occupy the lowest proportion of our clientele. Your team should intentionally go out and get customers. Announce your arrival and presence on the market. Marketing should never be viewed as always taking money out, most notable businesses are where they are because they spend on visibility and announcing their existence. Use your money to get more money. If you are stingy with your marketing, you will stifle your acceleration and growth.

3 Product Updates - No customer will align with a supplier whose product list has versions from 10 years ago. Customers want modern solutions to modern problems. They need to be updated on what products they can chose from now to make their systems and processes better, faster, friendlier and a lot more competitive. I was surprised once after dealing with a company for 3 years that they viewed my company as one that focuses merely on repairs and not consumables. "Oh you do that also, we didn't know". My advice would be that you need to always make your products and services menu are known by your clients. From time to time buyers and influential people who knew you move, bring the new updates regularly so that you won't lose grip of your niche. Give key clients samples to test or taste.

4 Perform without excuses - Quality Control is important. If your company gets the reputation that you have a propensity to always want to give numerous excuses why you could not deliver consistent quality, that may be a sure sign to any customer that it is time to move on. The fact that you are communicating the excuses does not guarantee that the customer is glued to you. Excuses are not part of your product line. When you always have to explain and justify why you delivered poorly all the time, that becomes the reputation you are known for. Always under promise and over deliver. Quality control is key, enhance this team and ensure what goes out is worth your customer's money. However it is vital and a lot better to offer an apology when you make a blunder than keeping quiet and hoping the customer will "heal" over time and come to terms with your mess. I am advocating against making daily excuses which show a lack of seriousness and frankly no one would take such business practice seriously.

5 Pricing must remain competitive - No matter how good your product can be, your pricing policy will determine whether we stick by you or we try next door. Every customer always wants every opportunity to maximize on profits. No customer will stand rip off situations. When they find someone who has very excellent pricing while offering good quality products, people shift focus to where they get bargains. It does not matter how much you communicate with them, pricing has to be within a range. Your number one goal should be to enhance the goals of your customer more than focusing on expanding revenue base. When you "partner" with your customer in building their vision they will never leave and forsake you. Do not cut corners by lowering costs through lowering product quality. That is in itself business suicidal techniques.

6. Provider +1 Service - Do not be confined to standard business practices. When you go an extra mile to meet the needs of your clients, you have won their heart and their wallet too. Think about this for a moment, a customer bring a car for maintenance at your garage and walks back to the office. Next door, when a customer bring a car for maintenance, they are driven back and sometime a courtesy car is provided to ensure the customer does not experience down time and lack of mobility. This removes the pressure to deliver now and gives you a chance to provide a total solution. Plus one concept will get you more referrals than anything else. People will stop looking for quotes as they are satisfied with Quality of Service. Excellency is not to be compromised. It is the reason your business stand shoulders above the rest. Another example of +1 service - On his wedding anniversary or birthday, the CEO of your client receives a card from your company wishing him well. It obviously takes deliberate effort to offer extra mile services but they don't have to cost you an arm and a leg. Something which costs $10 can give you a solid relationship with your customer, try this, it works, I did it before.

7. Professionalism is vital - There is a tendency over a period of time to treat customers casually like your buddies. As a result there is no separation of roles, professionalism and good corporate governance is compromised and clients leave in their numbers. No matter how we know each other etc, work relations remain work relations and nothing more. Never be tempted to mix business and pleasure as that mix usually produces disastrous consequences. Separate the two and remain professional at all times. Yes, clients and suppliers are humane but endeavor to eliminate personality clashes or such unprofessional conduct as dating your client.

8. Privacy is key - Keep Internal Challenges and Capacity Constraints private - when you parade your problems and lack of capacity, you lose credibility and trust. Keep internal boardroom squabbles away from the market. No one wants to associate with a sinking ship. I have watched how businesses went down just because one Director was loose with his/her words pertaining to sensitive internal information. Your Directors must grow up or face dismissal. Like they say "there is no family without its own issues" but you do not find families parading their dirty linen in the media. They always put up their best in public. Why? Image, Perception and Reputation are vital. Where you have capacity constraints in terms of meeting the increased demand and needs of your customer please OUTSOURCE. Remember your goal is to meet the need even at minimal profit. Don't parade your incompetence but makeup for it by outsourcing even if it lowers your markup. Keep that client you have.

9. Power of Market Intelligence - Most businesses live and operate in self made "vacuum" where it is only about them and no one else. If You have stopped checking on your competition, you will be out of touch with latest trends on the market hence your service runs the risk of obsolescence and irrelevance to the market needs. Your business is not on an island. Check pricing trends, product development and updates, specials, give-away, competitions, product launches and the promotional material your competitor is putting into your client's face. Watch your market like a hawk watching its prey. You can not afford to relax. Complacency is expensive. You are obviously not out to kill your competition. Its healthy to have an alternative on either side (on customer side and on supplier side). Customers need other companies to compare you with, while suppliers are kept on their toes "lest the clients move on".

10. Prioritize feedback - All forms of feedback are vital. Once you have sold even your best performing product, send out a questionnaire, a followup email, set up a feedback session with your customer. Find out testimonials on the product you have given them even for those products you have come to know to be too good on the market. Feedback is essential. If you show your customer that you do listen to their feedback and act on it, you are in for a long, lasting, fruitful business relationship. Provide a hot-line for feedback which is toll free. Thank people for their feedback and use of products. The people who can test your product better are those using it for a lifetime not just in your laboratory or testing centre. I have learned that all feedback is useful. Positive and negative. Do not always expect to be pampered. Some customers will not tell you what tickles the ear, they will be straight up with you and therefore do not take that lightly and personally. Its for your own good. Products that perform well tend to market your business well. Label them correctly so that people know who the manufacturer is.