Category Archives for Customer Service

How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More

One of the most important opportunities you have in your business is the customer who buys from you only once or only occasionally. These customers are critical as they already know about you, so you either have already spent advertising dollars to get them in the door (or to your website). 

Once someone has purchased from you once, it’s usually easier and more cost effective to keep customers coming back than it is to be constantly marketing to find new customers.

Here are three simple yet effective ways you can help turn a one-time customer into a repeat customer:

1. Treat Them Well:

Just like you have the potential to turn any one time customer into a repeat customer, you also have the potential to lose any customer at any time, based on how you treat them while they are in your store or shopping on your page.

Treat every customer like they are the only customer you will see today and make certain they walk out of your store with a smile on their face and satisfaction in your purchase.

When you promise them you will get back to them with an answer, keep your promise. Ensure that your store is staffed well enough to meet demands and that your staff is well trained and friendly. Make sure your site is easy to navigate.

2. Give Them A Good Deal:

Pricing should be fair and easy to understand. It is critical to know how your pricing compares to that of your competitor and why there is a difference.

Your prices don’t always have to be the lowest around, but you should offer a good value for the price you charge. Keep in mind that many people will pay a premium for excellent service, great value and expert knowledge, but if your prices are higher you must be able to justify the higher price.

3. Offer Incentives Or Loyalty Programs.

Frequent buyer cards, referral programs and other incentives are good strategies you can easily implement to help keep customers coming back. However do make sure any programs you offer are easy to understand and don’t require a lot of effort from your customers. It won’t get done if it’s too hard.

There are many other things you can do to keep your customers happy but start with these 3 suggestions on you’ll be on your way to building a good amount of repeat business.

Customers who already know about you can be your best advertisement … or your worst, depending on the experience they’ve had with you. So it’s extremely important that you make your customers feel welcomed, satisfied and that they got great value from you.

Each of your customers represent a chance to grow your business in a way that makes the best use of the advertising dollars you’ve already spent, as well as building a solid reputation. Once you start focusing on ways keep your customers happy, most likely you’ll start to feel good about yourself and your business in other ways too. Good customer service is not just about the difference it makes to your profits, but the warm feeling you’ll have from knowing that you’ve earnt those profits by helping your customers and making them feel good too.

Are You Over-Automating Your Business?

When it comes to creating systems in your business and streamlining processes to help your business run smoothly, automation can be brilliant.

It can also help your customers to get their results quicker.

For example, if you’re selling information products or digital products on the internet, then it makes it easier to deliver those products if your systems are automated. Customers can buy whenever they like and once they’ve bought the product it’s automatically delivered to them. They get an email with the download link or they’re automatically directed to a page where they can access their product.

You can automate your emails to some degree and even the ordering and fulfillment of physical products can be mostly automated online.

Today’s specific question though, is… “Can you over-automate your business?”

The answer is “Yes, absolutely!”

Watch the video below for suggestions on how to get this balance just right.

Click here to watch in YouTube.

Who Do You Market To?

Before you can effectively market your business it’s important to know exactly who you’re marketing to. Who is your ideal customer? What sort of people are you selling your products and/or services to?

When I ask this question, so many business owners answer that they are marketing to ‘everyone’.

“Whoever wants to buy my product is welcome to,” or “We provide cleaning services to anyone and everyone.”

But the thing is, not everyone is likely to buy your products/services and you can’t effectively market to ‘everyone’.

It’s much better for you to work out exactly what sort of people are your IDEAL or TYPICAL customers. That doesn’t mean that you can’t provide your products to those who don’t fit that category – just that you now have more direction in whom you’re marketing to.

For example, a friend of mine consults in a particular industry but specialises in working with beginners … the newbies to the industry. He is very patient and loves being able to help his clients with the fine details. He has become well-known within the industry for being the ‘go-to-guy’ for beginners.

Meanwhile, another colleague who’s been in the same industry for years and is very successful gets incredibly frustrated when people don’t understand his training or when they ask questions about the more basic aspects.

During his first year training others, he received a lot of complaints. People felt they weren’t ‘getting it’ … nor did they feel they received the help they needed. Towards the end of that first year, the trainer was not enjoying what he was doing anymore. He was so frustrated and constantly whinging about how some people just couldn’t keep up and was ready to give up training others then and there.

But he decided instead to only work with more advanced students. Before he agrees to train them, he has a one-on-one consultation to find out more about his potential client, their background and experience and their goals. And he decides from that whether he takes them on as a client. He also encourages them to use the session to question him to be sure they feel comfortable working with him.

The result? Both the consultant and most of his customers are much happier and get the results they’re looking for.

But also, both of these consultants have helped define their difference from other consultants and trainers within their industry too. They are now more refined in how and where they promote their services and are seen as leaders within their particular niches.

By being clear about the type of people your product/service is best for you may find that you have less complaints or refund requests, and more satisfied customers who are keen to recommend you to others.

Plus, it makes creating an effective marketing plan much easier. By knowing what sort of people your product/service is helping, you can now get a better understanding of this market and how to show them how your products/services can benefit them.