As the leader of a growing business, you know the importance of new customer acquisition.
In fact, if you’re like most of us, a hefty portion of your business plan and budget are likely devoted to bringing in new buyers. But while you’re studying the buying habits, needs, and expectations of potential new customers, are you devoting just as much time, attention – and budget – to the needs and expectations of your current customers?
Too often, newly landed customers find themselves on a slow but certain downward glide path. Even the most enthusiastic onboarding experience can cool to maintenance mode that, in turn, spirals into indifference. The thinking, it seems, is that, “no complaints” is good enough to keep a customer, keep them happy, and keep them purchasing.
But it’s not enough. Truth is, these days it’s nearly impossible to just “maintain” customers. The competition is simply too fierce, too unpredictable, and too aggressive. The only way to keep your current customers buying from you instead of your competition, is to keep treating them like the precious, highly sought prospective customers they are.
That means creating a sales and marketing partnership with your customer care team. Here are 3 ways you can start now.
- Keep Getting to Know Them
How well do you really know your current customer base? Not just talking about demographics. I’m talking about their needs, values, and expectations of you. Are they happy with their most recent purchase from you? How happy? More importantly, how happy are they with their ongoing experiences with you? Do they find you accessible, helpful, knowledgeable, caring? How do you know these things? Are you surveying? Focus grouping? Listening in on calls? Asking your customer care agents? My point here is that there are myriad ways of finding out – but you need to make finding out your priority.
- Honor Their Feedback and Keep the Conversation Going
Most customers will instantly love you – at least a little bit more – when you ask for their opinions and feedback. But that love will turn quickly to disdain if you then ignore what they tell you. You don’t have a magic wand that you can wave to solve every past issue, every disappointment, or every new product request. But you do have the power and the obligation to keep the conversation going. When a customer gives you the gift of their time, insight, and comments, you owe them a response. It can be as simple as a sincere thank you, with a brief description on how you will be using the feedback.
- Develop a Customer Save Strategy
Today’s frustrated customer no longer represents the risk of losing one customer. Nope. Today’s angry customer has the power of the online review at their fingertips. And once that written description is out there, it undermines everything else you’ve worked so hard to create. Customer Save Strategies aren’t easy to implement at first. You’ll need to hire and train your inbound customer care agents to demonstrate empathy – and action – when a customer is let down. You’ll also need to train them to escalate or empower them to resolve the issue on their own. It needs to proceed quickly, seamless, and be documented thoroughly. Like I said, not an easy process. But worth it.
At Skybridge Americas, we specialize in delivering a superior experience to every customer, on every call. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you transform your current customers into lifelong customers, please reach out. We would love to talk!
-Bobby Matthews
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Skybridge Americas
bmatthews@skybridgeamericas.com
Find out how Skybridge Americas can help you delight your customers and grow your business.
We seamlessly integrate our superior customer care skills with your brand messaging. For more information, contact us at 763-299-4570 or submit our contact form.
