Create Loyal Customers and Business Will Thrive

First sales are always more difficult than repeat sales.  So, small business owners are always looking to build a loyal customer base.  Regardless of what business you are in, there are a lot of things you can do to keep your customers coming back.  Below are a few tips:

Maintain Expertise in Your Field 

Keep up to date on the news and innovations that affect your industry.  It is key to your success that your customers perceive you as very knowledgeable in your industry.  With the Internet making it easy to do research, customers are becoming more and more informed.  And no customer wants to know more than the “expert”.  That is why it is so important for you to commit to ongoing training and doing what you need to do to stay up to date with your industry.  Your customers will reward you for your commitment to constant growth. 

Solve the Problems Fast 

It is rare that you will hear about a customer problem up front, so you need to use your intuition in many cases.  You might want to take your customer’s pulse periodically by reaching out and asking if everything is going well, or if there are areas that need improvement in your working relationship. 

Most important, when you hear of a problem never give in to the SODDI defense (some other dude did it).  It’s your business, so everything that goes wrong is your fault – take the blame with grace.  Then, take action to fix it fast.  Customers are used to the SODDI defense and rarely encounter vendors who work fast to solve their problems.  Rather than remember the mistake, they will remember the pleasant resolution and give you their future business.  In fact, you may find that some of your biggest “problem” customers will end up being your best referral source. 

Help Your Customer Recall the Reasons They Picked You 

Now is not the time for modesty; it is important to remind your customers why you excel over your competition and congratulate them for making the right choice in you.  Everyone loves to receive praise and why not drive home your good qualities at the same time. 

The ultimate goal when creating loyal customers is to give them service that is so good, everyone else pales in comparison.  Give them such great service automatically, and they will demand the same for years to come.  That is when you have a loyal customer. 

Get more small business success strategies and claim your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”  to learn about an online accounting program that makes it easy to track repeat customer profitability.