adictoaloshombres: Loyalty

Showing posts with label Loyalty. Show all posts

Customer Service Leads to Customer Loyalty

All customers want and expect superior customer service, and it is all too important that we give it to them. Otherwise, our competition will.

Keywords:

Sales, marketing, loan officer, mortgage, leads, telemarketing, skills, training, communication, selling

Article Body:

Customer Service Leads to Customer Loyalty

All customers want and expect superior customer service, and it is all too important that we give it to them. Otherwise, our competition will.

Your customer doesn’t want to be treated like another statistic along an assembly line. They want to be treated with respect. It is very important that your customer realizes just how important their business is to you.

Imagine if you were a daily customer at a bank, restaurant, or some other establishment. And every day that you walked in, a sales associate would take care of your business, than hurry you out the door, without so much as a hi, bye, or even making eye contact for that matter.

Okay, so you don’t necessarily go to these places to make new friends, but you would think that the experience could be just a little bit positive.

Maybe this isn’t enough to make someone take their business elsewhere. However, it just might if they were approached by your competition, and your competition gave them an idea of just how the grass can be greener on the other side, and managed to swipe that customer from you. And if they did, would you even realize it?

The most important thing to your customer when doing business is customer service. People want to be treated with respect. They want to be addressed by name, they want their phone calls returned, and they want their problems resolved in a timely fashion.

Customer service, believe it or not, is more important to people than the amount of the product, or the over all fees’ they have to pay.

So before you discuss pricing, give them great customer service up front.

When I was in banking, I had an elderly couple take their business to a new bank that just opened across the street offering all kinds of special promotions at their grand opening. They happened to be very good customers of mine, and they were sad to go. They told me that the new bank was able to offer them the same products I could, except the products were free.

I told them that although the products may be free, they would never experience the customer service there that they received here.

They understood, but left by telling me that it just made economic sense for them to leave.

A month later, they came back. Needless to say, they were not happy with the other bank’s customer service.

I wasn’t at all surprised and was only too happy to have them back.

Excellent customer service is a great way to build customer relationships, and also build customer loyalty.

When I say customer loyalty, I mean they won’t be so quick to jump ship when approached by your competitor.

People love to have the peace of mind that whatever product or service they have with you is secure with you. They like knowing that if ever there is a problem, or if they have a question, you will be there to resolve their issue, regardless of what it may be.

Excellent customer service also leads to loyalty because if your customers like the way you treat them, they will be happy to refer their friends and family to you.

Providing excellent customer service to gain loyalty is quite easy. People love to be greeted by name along with a smile. They love to have their problems resolved quickly, so make sure they know that they can depend on you. They like to have their phone calls returned, so return them.

Customer service is key to retaining your customers, and obtaining all of their business. It is also a great way to obtain referrals from them.

Trust me, treat your customers the way you would treat your friends or family and they will stick with you forever, and provide you with a lot of business. Good luck.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

Creating Customer Loyalty For Your Business

Keywords:

customer loyalty, internet marketing, email marketing, website marketing, email loyalty programs,

Article Body:

Creating Customer Loyalty for Your Business

Strategize and Plan For Loyalty!

These four factors will greatly affect your ability to build a loyal customer base:

1. Products that are highly differentiated from those of the competition.

2. Higher-end products where price is not the primary buying factor.

3. Products with a high service component.

4. Multiple products for the same customer.

1. Market To Your Own Customers

Giving a lot of thought to your marketing programs aimed at current customers is one aspect of building customer loyalty.

When you buy a new car, many dealers will within minutes try to sell you an extended warranty, an alarm system, and maybe rust proofing. It's often a very easy sale and costs the dealer almost nothing to make. Are there additional products or services you can sell your customers? Three years ago my house was painted, and it's now due for another coat. Why hasn't the painter called or at least sent a card? It would be a lot less expensive than getting new customers through his newspaper ad, and since I was happy with his work I won't get four competing bids this time. Keep all the information you can on your customers and don't hesitate to ask for the next sale.

2. Use Complaints To Build Business!

When customers aren't happy with your business they usually won't complain to you - instead, they'll probably complain to just about everyone else they know - and take their business to your competition next time. That's why an increasing number of businesses are making follow-up calls or mailing satisfaction questionnaires after the sale is made. They find that if they promptly follow up and resolve a customer's complaint, the customer might be even more likely to do business than the average customer who didn't have a complaint.

3. Reach Out To Your Customers!

Contact with current customers is a good way to build their loyalty.

The more the customer sees someone from your firm, the more likely you'll get the next order. Send Holiday cards, see them at trade shows, stop by to make sure everything's okay. Send a simple email newsletter to your customers-tell them about the great things that are happening at your firm and include some useful information for them. Send them copies of any media clippings about your firm. Invite them to free seminars or exclusive events. The more they know about you, the more they see you as someone out to help them, the more they know about your accomplishments-the more loyal a customer they will be.

Recommended Tool: Loyal Email

The Loyal Email solution enables businesses of any size to communicate directly with customers via permission-based email campaigns which helps companies save time and money while increasing sales and customer loyalty.

This solution is geared towards companies whom want to harness the effectiveness and cost efficiencies of email communications but do not want the hassles of managing their own program in-house. Loyal Email is a 100% managed service which doesn't require any additional investment in hardware, software or personnel. They take care of everything so you don’t have to. Get your own custom designed email marketing and customer loyalty program at http://www.loyalemail.com

Wishing you great business success,

Chris Swemba
Kinetica

Customer Loyalty – The Key to Business Success

Keywords:

customer loyalty, keys to business success, customer service

Article Body:

Talk to many business people about how they approach customer service and the majority of them will say that they are aiming to have ‘satisfied’ customers. No! What we all should be seeking is to have loyal customers.

Research has shown that 65% of customers say they are loyal. You may be happy with this but you shouldn’t! Satisfied customers are in a state of nothing – they are neither issatisfied or happy; they are in between. They will tolerate you while you are of use to them but if a better deal comes along, they’re off.

On the other hand, loyal customers are your friends. They will be with you through thick and thin; they will be the first to try out you new product; they willing give you honest feedback; they will regularly refer business to you. This is what you want! But how can you turn a satisfied customer into a loyal one?

Let Them Decide How to Do Business With You

Today customers are a lot more sophisticated in how they want to do business. If your product or service lends itself to be offered via a number of different means, then give your customer the option.

Can you deliver face-to-face? What about telephone services? Could you make use of SMS texts for quick notes and reminders? Do you have a web site through which customers can contact you or even make orders on-line? If you provide a variety of delivery channels which are available to suit the customer’s needs then they are more likely to stay with you.

Build a Relationship

Loyalty can only be achieved if you have a true relationship with your customer. Aim to build rapport. Understand who are dealing with you and understand what they are looking for. Keep in regular contact with them; you don’t necessarily have to be selling something. Always use their names, especially their first name if you can.
All of this will help in building a long term relationship. Once you have this, they are less likely to walk away.

Generate Staff Loyalty

How can you cultivate a loyal customer if your staff are not loyal to the business? You must have staff who care for the job and will do anything to protect and move the business forward. Customers will be more loyal if they see familiar faces. A business with a high staff turnover will find it difficult to build a relationship with their customers.

Treat your staff well. Reward their successes and recognise their achievements. Hold regular training sessions so they feel they are learning and developing. An established training programme will also make sure that their product knowledge is up to date.

Seek Out Complaints

This sound strange but the average customer has to be encouraged to complain! Many will keep quiet about poor service but if they can find someone else to do their business with, they will. Set up a clear complaints procedure so customers can complain if they wish. Provide staff with the tools to effectively deal with customer problems. Follow up all complaints to ensure that they have been resolved.

Take an Interest

Show your customers that you are interested in their views. Run regular surveys to find out what they think of your service, to find out what you can do differently. You can either carry out a survey over the telephone, or go as far as doing a mailing to all your customers.

Taking the trouble to contact your customers will reinforce the message that you want their custom. But don’t forget – take action on what you find out!

Be a ‘Can Do’ Business

Customers like nothing better than a business which delivers on even the most difficult of requests. ‘Can Do’ businesses will always have loyal customers. Train your staff to never use words like, “Sorry but …”, “It’s not my fault”, “Its company policy”.

Be a business where solutions are always looked for and problems seen as challenges.

Look After The ‘Golden’ Customers

The old 80/20 is likely to apply to your business – 80% of your sales or profits are likely to come from just 20% of your customers. Work out who your top 20% are and love them to death! Why not concentrate on turning the remaining 80% into loyal customers? Well, the 20% have already shown that they trust and respect you. A little more effort with these customers will reap more business than concentrating on the ‘maybe’s’. By all means, run a programme to convert the ‘maybe’s’ but put more effort into the converted.

So, there you have it. Some ideas and tips on how to build and keep loyal customers. Take a critical look at your business and put a loyalty building programme in place, which will boost sales and profits.

Establishing A Customer Loyalty Program

Keywords:

customer loyalty program,company customer loyalty research survey,customer firm loyalty research survey,card customer loyalty,customer loyalty survey

Article Body:

A lot of companies nowadays are coming up with various customer loyalty programs to ensure bigger profits for their companies. This may seem to be quite a worn idea already for a customer loyalty program but people, no matter how wealthy they are, actually enjoy getting freebies every now and then.

1. The Concept

Let’s try to further discuss the concept behind this customer loyalty program. With a rewards-based customer loyalty program, the customer will have fun spending more on your company due to your company’s promise that the bigger points the a loyal customer receives from their purchases the greater the rewards that they will soon get from the company. From having free expensive designer items to even an all-expenses paid grand vacation trip courtesy of the company. It really doesn't matter - the point is, it is a small amount to pay considering the years of loyal purchases that these customers have brought in to your company. Of course, this all sounds good on paper, but a truly excellent loyalty program doesn't just pamper customers, it entices them to continue patronizing your business, or even tell their friends about it, offering your business some invaluable word-of-mouth advertising.

2. Rebate Programs

A less fancy customer loyalty programs is the rebate program. This is wherein the customer will be able to get a percentage back from the amount of their purchases as coupons that they can use to pay for more stuff from your company. It really is a simpler customer loyalty program as compared to the rewards system. Not only will it be easier on your company's pocketbooks, it will also give your business some added profits because through the rebate customer loyalty program your customers will, in the end, end up spending more on your company because the coupons cannot be exchanged for real currency or used anywhere else. In actuality, there is no real incentive for customers to use the program.

3. Loyal = Profitable?

A lot of people still view being able to provide your loyal customers with great service does not automatically ensure a company that their customers will stay. This is why there is a great need for an effective (but still profit-oriented) customer loyalty program. While great customer service can result in a customer making a purchase more than once, a well-designed customer loyalty program will ensure they wouldn't even ever dream of going to your competitors, and in fact, would even recommend friends to use your services.

4. The What If's

The biggest concern that most CEO's have is thus: a strong customer loyalty program can keep customers that are already loyal loyal, but what about the next generation of shoppers? And even worse, an ill-planned loyalty program, built with little or no data about your existing loyal customers, will be doomed to fail. Find ways to collect this incredibly important data months in advance of launching your program. Invest heavily in a statistics specialist, and ensure he has the latest statistics software such as SPSS. Remember, even if you have an abundance of data, it will be completely useless to you if you can't make sense of it. Worse still is having data that wasn't collected scientifically to be an accurate representation of the population being sampled.

Growing Your Business Online With Loyalty Programs

Keywords:

internet, marketing, relationship, loyalty, program, retail, web, sales

Article Body:

This is the first in a series of articles we will be publishing relaying thoughts and ideas from the Internet Retailer Conference in Chicago, which occurred June 5th through June 7th. Mark Goldstein, CEO of Loyalty Lab (a company that implements loyalty programs for merchants), and Gary Korotzer, CMO of Red Envelope (a company that specializes in selling gift items), delivered a presentation about loyalty programs. Red Envelope currently has a loyalty program managed by Loyalty Lab.

Loyalty programs are taking off. If you have a retail web site and you don't have some kind of loyalty program...chances are that by the end of next year you will. Jupiter Research expects that by the end of 2007, 78% of retailers doing business online will have a loyalty program, compared to 24% now. So what's the big deal?

It costs a lot more to generate a new customer than to sell to a repeat customer. Loyalty programs allow you to build a customer base that is loyal to your products, and will continue to purchase from you, rather than your competitors. A loyalty program is some kind of program that allows your customers to build up credit to apply to further purchases, or to redeem for cash. For example, a retail web site could grant a customer "points" for every purchase he makes. When he has enough points, he can redeem them for a discount on more merchandise, or possibly redeem them for cash.

To implement a loyalty program, you need some way to keep up with your customers' accrued points (or whatever kind of measurement you use). This should be done by keeping records of a customers' transactions in a database. Goldstein and Korotzer recommended tying the information to a customer's credit card number. Every time a customer makes purchases with a particular credit card, a record of the purchase is recorded along with the credit card number. In this scenario, if a customer used a different card than in previous purchases, her existing loyalty account would not receive additional credits.

You should try to make it easy for a customer to know how many points they have. Out of sight, out of mind, as the old saying goes, so make sure your customers are aware of how many points they have and how many more they need to redeem their rewards.

When you begin the process of deciding on the details of your loyalty program (exactly what participants will receive, and how much they have to purchase for redemption), Goldstein and Korotzer argue that you should explore your company's economics as deeply as possible. Two important statistics to examine are the lifetime value and acquisition cost of your customers. This will better help you determine how much you can afford to give to your customers. Another critical consideration is exactly who gets to participate in the program. You may choose to only extend an invitation into the program to the top 20% (or whatever percentage generates the majority of your revenue) of your customers. If there is a segment of your customer base that represents the majority of your income, then it makes sense to concentrate your marketing dollars on that group.

Another point that Goldstein and Korotzer emphasized is that your loyalty program should be cross-channel. In other words, if you operate a physical retail location and take orders by phone in addition to your web site, the loyalty program should extend to all of the channels. Avoid confusing your customers. Make it easy for them to gain credits and cash in on their loyalty regardless of what channel they use to make purchases.

Loyalty programs have been around for years in certain industries (i.e., airline frequent flyer miles) but are just starting to gain traction with a lot of retailers. If you sell retail, you should begin the process of researching the implementation of a loyalty program now - before your competition does. Feel free to contact Work Media for information on implementing a loyalty program for your web site.