It’s 2020, and the ways of doing business might be going through a transition, but there’s one immutable law that exists between you and the customer; keep your existing clientele happy instead of hunting for new ones. You may have read this a thousand times, but it’s always a difficult task looking for new customers, so keep your existing ones satisfied and you’ll have a successful business model on your hands. Things might look complicated on the surface, but they are actually not if you know which key areas to look at. One of them is planning how to increase sales with your existing customers, and to achieve that, we’ve highlighted some useful pointers on how to get that done.
Being honest, all the time, every time
Doesn’t matter if you have 100 customers or 10,000; always be honest with each one of them. Sure, you’re probably thinking what’s the harm in losing one customer, but remember, it’s always going to be a ‘Domino effect’ that will come back to haunt you later. So, what are the ways in which you can be honest with your customers? It’s simple really. Whether you’re promoting a product or a service, make absolutely sure what you’re selling is passed onto the customer bearing the same quality and standard as what’s being advertised. This helps with customer goodwill 100 percent of the time.
Offer ‘5-star’ after sales support
If your advertising text is promoting a high-quality product or service, but somehow, customers don’t get what they paid for, then it’s to be a real test to see how far your customer service representatives handle the situation. If it’s a product, then choose to replace it without any extra charge. If it’s a service, then offer a refund, along with a heart-felt apology of how truly sorry you are that the customer was displeased with what was offered. If customers start complaining of how your employees weren’t as helpful or polite as they should be, then it becomes your responsibility to train them on how to handle the situation next time.
Offer a ‘customer loyalty’ program
A customer loyalty program is one where you’re able to identify which customer ends up visiting the most, on your website, social media page, and making purchases. If you’re able to identify those brands of customers manually, then you certainly have an eagle eye. If you aren’t able to recognize them, then we recommend investing in a reliable POS system.
POS system software will give you a breakdown of customer data, ranging from their email addresses, customer profiles, as well as purchase history. Based on this data, offer to give your customers some exchange points, which they can use to receive a discount on their next purchase. If you’re feeling generous, simply send them their favorite item based on their purchase history, along with a thank you note saying how you’re proud to serve them and want to continue conducting business in the future.
Also remember to offer attractive discounts during those annual sale days if you want your existing customers to visit your webpage or social media to make more purchases.
Always ask for feedback
Just visualize yourself as the customer. Put yourself in their shoes. If you have a terrible experience with a product or service, won’t you let them know? Of course, you will. Now here’s a different scenario. Suppose if the product or service was impeccable, but the way you had to purchase it was downright frustrating. Would you let the business owner know? Of course, you would.
Often times, business owners are oblivious to the little hurdles that hamper the shopping experience of the customer. It’s necessary to ask for valuable customer feedback so you don’t just improve the product or service being offered, but up the quality of service. Sure, some of these customer complaints could be simple nit-picking on their part, but here’s our advice to you. You can’t abide by every single thing the customer tells you. Improve where you can. Ignore where you can’t and move on.
Send personalized emails, detailing new products, offers and more
Personalized emails help your existing customers know more about the latest products, releases or updates. However, there are ways to make that experience even better. For example, avoid sending emails to customers that appear as spam and more like you’re giving value to them next time they visit.
For instance, every month, customers who frequent your website a lot to search for the latest products but get discouraged by the price can be given an incentive in the form of a discount to encourage them to shop. An automated code sent to their registered email will do the trick. The same approach should be applied if you are providing a service. When the customer punches in the code, they’ll receive a reduction in their monthly bill after receiving the next invoice.
Browse your competition to improve your business
If your competition is seemingly doing better that you, rather than getting frustrated over your efforts paying little to no dividends, it’s time to take inspiration from them. See what they are doing to raise the bar in both the quality of their product or service, as well as reaching out to customers in a timely fashion when it comes to after-sales or answering simple queries. These are the little things that matter, and it goes without saying that the results don’t materialize overnight. It’s a constant grind which can often wear down your resolve. However, the important thing to know is to keep on going, and eventually, you’ll get the results you desire.