Keeping Customers Loyal
"Keeping customers loyal is not a passive activity. Loyalty programs don’t work because you need to put them in place for years for it to be effective. Loyalty can be built in less than a year though, by training employees about how to keep customers happy."
If you want your customers to stay loyal, you need more than just a loyalty program-you need to build the loyalty from within your business. If you train your employees on how important customer satisfaction is, and how they can do that most effectively, then they will have the tools they need to make your customers happy.
The last thing you want is for your employees to be robotic about keeping customers happy, but if they can embrace the idea that each customer is unique, and that the best way to keep them coming back is by getting to know them personally, then you will have no problems with keeping your customers loyal.
When hiring new employees, look for those who are passionate about what they do. They will want to be successful in their job and doing so means keeping customers happy. Asking applicants how well they would handle a difficult customer will also help determine how well they understand how important it is that customers are treated with respect and courtesy.
Hire employees who speak highly of their previous employers and even better, if they can offer specific reasons why they liked working there. Interviewing former employers is a good idea too. If they are happy with an employee, they will speak positively of the employee's work ethic and skills.
Another way of ensuring customer loyalty is to teach employees how to keep customers happy not just by providing excellent service but also by presenting the right products or services at the right price. You can't give customers what they want if you don’t know what that is, so it's important that training should include how to ask customers about themselves, their preferences and what will make them feel valued as customers.
The primary goal should be that your employees feel comfortable talking to customers on a personal level. If they learn how to do that, then there will be no reason for customers not to feel valued and appreciated, which is the first step in creating loyal customers.
A customer who feels appreciated will always want to come back and make more purchases with you. An employee who feels appreciated can do the same thing by keeping your customer satisfied while they are at your place of business. It's all connected, so you need to train everyone involved with offering products or services directly with those who provide those services so that everyone understands what is expected of them in order to maintain customer loyalty.
Here are a couple of tips:<br>
1. Keep in mind, your customers are human too. They make mistakes and they forget things, just as we do. It's how you react to these things that matters the most.<br>
2. At the end of the day, it is your business and you are solely responsible for what goes on in your store or company.<br>
If you notice a customer has gone out of their way to make a purchase from your company,<br>
then show the customer that you value their business by making notes about them on their account record.<br>
Written by Jamie Alexander <br> Published by SmallBusinessComputing.com <br>
Do you have a small business? If you do, chances are your customers are the lifeline of your business. It is vital to note that in today’s generation there is a shift from services to products and it is the customers who guide the businesses towards the products they prefer. In addition, with increase of online businesses, there is a rise in promotional activities (coupons and sales promotions) by businesses which leads to win-win situation for both customers as well as businesses. Nowadays businesses also prefer to implement loyalty programs for their customers in order to provide them with even more opportunities for shopping as well as retaining their existing customer base.
By implementing loyalty programs, it is possible to get more customers as well as gaining customer loyalty. It is also a fact that customers are bound to stay loyal to their favorite businesses for years and years. Here are some of the reasons why businesses need to implement loyalty programs for their customers.
Various studies have shown that customers who have been loyal to certain stores often shop more frequently in other stores but in equal or lesser ways. This definitely shows how important it is for businesses to make sure that they have reliable customers who come back frequently. In order for a business to be successful, they need new customers and also existing ones with loyal customer base. Without loyal customer base the business cannot survive and flourish.
Loyal customers are also great for your business as they tend to spend more while shopping. The studies have shown that when shoppers were loyal to certain stores they spent more on the items purchased from those stores. Loyal customers are great for your business as they spend a lot of money on your products and services and in turn, you get to make more profit.
Customers who buy high-quality items frequently also tend to return back again after purchasing something else of the same kind. This shows that a customer is definitely satisfied with the items he/she purchased from those particular stores and is happy with the quality of it.
Customers are more likely to decide to come back to a store that they have visited over the course of time. Customers who have been loyal to certain stores often tend to make spontaneous purchases on impulse, and when they return back again, they tend to be more willing or just go ahead and buy the same things they have already bought. In this regard, loyalty programs can help businesses as it makes them stand out of the crowd. For example, customers might go on a shopping spree when leaving from your business in order show their loyalty and in turn make loyal customers in your business.
Loyal customers are also very loyal when it comes to recommending your business to others. This shows how important is the loyalty of people as it gives them full control over what they spend their money on. For example, if you are purchasing a good watch or a popular mobile handset then one of the first things your customer will do is to show it off to their friends and family.
Therefore, it is important for businesses to keep in mind that by keeping their customers loyal they will have no problem at all in attracting new customers and this way, earn more profits.
Written by Sarah Clements <br> Published by TheSmallBusinessLibrary.
cONCLUSION
There are multiple benefits of implementing a loyalty program but we have listed the top 5 here, in our opinion.
Benefit #1: Improved customer service <br>By implementing a loyalty program, you not only create an instant reward for the person who purchases from you or uses your service, you also show that you appreciate their business and will provide them with better service in return for their loyalty. This is a very effective way to improve customer service as it gets people involved with your store or company on an emotional level. <br>Benefit #2: Get new clients <br>It is always good to have loyal customers as they help attract more new customers by recommending your products and services to others.
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Keeping Customers Loyal