Successful Customer Retention Strategies

The key to customer satisfaction is implementing successful customer retention strategies. If you don't carry out these strategies you'll lose your most valuable and profitable assets... your customers. It's that simple. Instead of continually re-build­ing your customer base keep the cus­tomers you have. To do so, con­tinually ask your­self, "What do I have to do to make sure that my cus­tomers are totally satisfied with my product or ser­vice?" Once you know what your customers want from you and your company then apply these nine strategies to make sure your customers get it.

Prioritize your customers. Deter­mine which customers need your person­al atten­tion and how of­ten. The larger customers (the "A" and "B" customers), most re­cent customers, or customers with past prob­lems should re­ceive the bulk of your customer-re­tention time. Remember, the 80/20 rule: "80% of your income comes from 20% of your customers."

Make reg­u­lar customer re­ten­tion calls. De­vel­op a sc­hed­ule or cal­en­dar of customer re­ten­tion calls and follow it! So­metimes a phone call or email will suf­fice, to simply check up on deliv­ery, bill­ing, and so forth. However, don't forget the face-to-face call. When you do visit the customer, make sure that you have new infor­mation to pres­ent, and don't waste your custom­er's time.

Identify gaps and close them quick­ly. After the product has been deliv­ered or service started, follow-up with the cus­tom­er to make sure that what the cus­tomer received is what he or she expect­ed. If there is a gap be­tween the two, the cus­tomer will not be satisfied, and you will have a prob­lem to take care of immed­iat­ely. As a salesperson, you represent your com­pa­ny to your cus­tom­ers. This means that you, more than any­one else, are re­sponsi­ble for man­aging customer ex­pecta­tions and mak­ing sure that your custom­ers think posi­tively about the company.

Avoid surprises by kee­ping your cus­tomers informed. If you cannot meet the customer's re­quirements, or feel that it's going to take more time than anticipated, convey this message as soon as possi­ble. Don't let it come as a surprise. The cus­tomer might sur­prise you by calling in a competitor.

Share information. Keep your cus­tomers abreast of your company's products and services, and demon­strate your knowl­edge of the industry and market­place. "Whenever possible, show how the prod­uct or service fulfills the cust­omer's needs and ex­pecta­tions." You can build trust and strengthen the par­t­ner­ship by sharing informa­tion about related prod­ucts that you don't carry but that ben­efit the custo­mer's busi­ness (how­ever, don't refer the cus­tom­er to your comp­etitor's prod­uc­ts). This will also facili­tate the ex­change of infor­ma­tion that is, your cus­tom­ers may be more willing to tell you about ch­ang­es in their busi­ness that re­quire new prod­ucts, ser­vice chang­es, and up­grades.

Monitor your ac­tivi­ties. Top perform­ing salespeo­ple keep a record of every activ­ity they un­dertake for a cus­tomer, along with brief notes, meet­ing re­sults, ac­tions to be taken, and the like. Such activities include ser­vice visits, phone calls placed, mate­ri­als sent, and lunches at­tended, as well as any other con­tacts or attempt­ed con­tacts. If a cus­tomer prom­ises to act on some­thing, suc­cessful sales­peo­ple send a note as a fol­low-up. This diary ap­proach helps sales­people keep infor­mation about the account fresh and cur­rent. It also keeps their pre­senta­tions fo­cused and per­sonal­ized. Each company has its own way of track­ing customer activity in some type of CRM system. Most are good if it achieves the desired result of tracking and determining the frequency of custom­er contact. In addition, most companies prepare a num­ber of reports to help moni­tor accounts, find prob­lems, and un­cover opportu­nities for growth.

Work closely with your company. To be a good salesperson, you need to develop a good working rela­tionship with the peo­ple inside your company. Proper rapport and com­munication helps your co-work­ers ensure that all problems and opportu­nities are han­dled prompt­ly and effi­ciently. Strong customer retention skills and prac­tices tell cus­tomers that you and your com­pany are interested, un­derstand their needs, and consider them valued customers. As you continue to make retention calls, a bond will develop beyond the normal business relation­ship, one that may have a long-lasting, per­sonal value. While you can­not assume that a customer will stay forever, you can further the partner­ship by maintain­ing an effec­tive, close rela­tionship throughout the year.

Successful customer retention takes time, energy and discipline. Many salespeople aren't willing to pay this price. Instead they focus on the "next sale". Don't make this mistake. Ensuring your existing customers satisfaction is essential to long-term growth and profitability.Start implementing these successful customer retention strategies and see your sales and profits soar.