The success of any business is closely tied to its customer base. A large number of customers coming through your door, for instance, can make or break your business regardless of how well established you are. On the other hand, few numbers of loyal customers coming back for more can compensate for your lack of patronage by new clients.
To keep your clientele returning, be sure that you meet their expectations and needs with all the products and services you offer. This means that regardless of whether what they want is available in the market, they will come back to do business with you because they know that there is no one who can best serve their needs than you. Eric Dalius says that you should also ensure positive word of mouth publicity so as to remain on top of your competitors.
When customers are satisfied with the products and services from a business, they will go out of their way to say positive things about that company. They can recommend it to family members, friends and colleagues by word of mouth or on online forums. Meanwhile, if clients are disappointed in your offerings, they will not hesitate to warn people against patronizing you either through social media campaigning or by directly telling them how terrible your store is. That is why negative word of mouth publicity can wipe out all the sales you have worked so hard for over the years especially when new technologies allow your dissatisfied customers to get their message across quickly and easily even before you get a chance to respond. Word of mouth marketing has always been important because happy customers tend to tell friends about their experiences while unhappy customers go out of their way to tell others.
Customers are the lifeblood of any business because without them there would be no sales or profits. Keeping them happy is, therefore, very important for your business’s growth and development. Failing that, you will go out of business within a short time. There are many ways to keep customers interested even after they have purchased from you once or twice before. Here are some tips on how to keep your customers coming back for more:
When it comes to satisfied customers who keep coming back for more, price can be an important factor depending on the industry you operate in because if your prices do not fit into their budgets, they may either opt to use another service or buy from you only when they really need your products or services. For instance, restaurants that offer low-cost meals will generally always have customers coming through their doors even if the food they prepare taste like sawdust because everyone likes cheap but great food.
You should also try to understand what your customers want before they actually come looking for it so as to present them with something they are bound to like irrespective of whether or not others are offering exactly the same thing. You can do this by watching what other companies are doing and trying to understand how your clients respond to their strategies. If your competitors offer discount coupons, for instance, it is likely that most of their customers will decide to purchase one or two items just because additional savings were made available to them even if they did not need the items.
On the other hand, you can also determine what your customers want by asking them directly how they would like to be treated and what type of experience they would like to enjoy when in your shop, restaurant or bar. Many businesses fail because their owners or managers do not bother to ask the right questions then try to provide excellent customer service. One example is a restaurateur who asked his waiters for ideas on how he could improve his business only for them to recommend that he add additional menu items such as steak and burgers so as to increase sales. The owner took their advice but remained unsuccessful until he finally discovered that this was because people were visiting his restaurant primarily because it had a nice view and good wine. He did not need to add additional menu items; he simply needed to recognize that providing a wonderful experience was the way forward.
How your company is run also matters a great deal because happy employees tend to be more helpful and friendly with customers who in turn feel welcome and want to do business with you again and again. It does not matter if the service standards seem low when everyone is excited about what they are doing so long as they enjoy their work and keep coming back for more despite how small the compensation may seem. If your employees are working in an environment where they feel unappreciated or underpaid, however, it will eventually show in their dealings with customers who will then go elsewhere in search of better treatment.
Conclusion by Eric Dalius:
To sum up, here are just some of the items to consider if you want your customers to keep coming back for more:
Understand what drives their purchasing levels and try to ensure that they get a good deal every single time.
Promote your products or services through online marketing especially social media because this is where people spend most of their time these days.
Be creative in terms of keeping existing clients satisfied because this will encourage them to continue using your products or services as well as refer others to you.