Addicting Your Customers To Your Business…

For all customers the first transaction with a business is the decider on whether or not they will return. How the customer feels about the purchase, the product and the service they received all determines whether they will be your customer again or someone else’s.

For the customer, deciding to buy from a new business carries with it a certain measure of risk. It is a total unknown whether it will be a pleasant experience or not, they have to invest their time and energy investigating whether your business has the best value for their money. The larger the purchase, the bigger that risk becomes.

Because of the risk, customers prefer to purchase from businesses they know and trust. If you can impress a customer enough on the first transaction you are halfway towards winning their loyalty. It is only when you can duplicate the experience for the customer that they become your customer.

But once you have won their loyalty how can increase the frequency with which they buy from you? Partly it depends upon the type of product you are selling. If you are selling cars, you can expect to see your customers every 3-5yrs. If you are selling toothpaste then every month will be more likely. Most businesses, however, rarely see their customers as often as is possible for the product they are selling. Invariably what happens is that you will see a new customer quite frequently then one day, not at all or at best once in a blue moon.

But there is plenty you can do to keep customer loyalty high once you have established it. Often in taking action to keep customers loyal you also inspire new customers to become loyal as well. Steve, a massage therapist working from home discovered the joys of keeping his customers loyal.

A lot of Steve’s clients liked to get massages but only came on average 4 times a year. He noticed that they usually turned up when they had a specific problem, were stressed or an injury was giving them pain. Many of his clients had been with him for several years.

Even though Steve was making a living doing what he loved he wanted to know how he could encourage his existing clients to come more often. His previous attempts at educating his clients on the benefits of massage and even implementing a frequent visitors card resulted in ho-hum outcomes. He not only wanted them to come more often for the financial benefits to him but also because he knew that they would receive much better results if they made regular visits.

Steve’s Instant Business Success Coach suggested that Steve turn his concern for his clients into a sales strategy that would also make his business more profitable. Steve was reluctant to try because of the poor results he had received last time. He was sure it wouldn’t work but decided to try it again just to see what would happen.

Steve was instructed this time to create a monthly newsletter and a questionnaire that he would use with all his clients from now on, even the one whom he has known for years.

The questionnaire would cover specific problems that Steve knew most people who came to see a massage therapist had. After listening to his clients, on that same questionnaire he would write a prescription for his services to his clients. Based on his expertise as a massage therapist he would know how many treatments would be most effective for his clients' problems. We urged him not to inflate his prescriptions as he would gain more business in the long run if he was honest about his clients' needs and helped them correct their physiological problems.

Steve would then give his clients a copy of this questionnaire and prescription to take home. The questionnaire was a reminder to the client that their problem was a serious issue and required specific treatment to correct. It also gave Steve the status of a health-care professional which he was, but hadn’t been seen that way by his clients before. You see Steve’s clients were treating their massages as a luxury rather than a need. There was little motivation for them to see him unless they were experiencing pain or discomfort. Now Steve had given them a reason to come and see him on a regular basis until their problem was corrected.

At the same time that he gave each of his clients a prescription he also booked in their next appointment and handed them an appointment card. Steve would continue this habit each time he saw his customers. He never allowed them to go home and then think about it before making their next appointment because he knew that they would invariably find excuses not to make the next appointment. A small investment in some fridge magnets meant that Steve’s prescriptions were given permanent place on the fridge where they would be a constant reminder to his clients.

Every month, Steve’s clients receive a newsletter with health tips, promotions. Steve also sends out a quick email to confirm all his appointments a week ahead, then ring them the day before the appointment.

The effect of this new strategy has dramatically increased the frequency with which Steve’s clients returned to his business. The appointment show-up rate has improved by 54% and 60% of his clients have increased their visits by surprisingly 95%.

Even clients who needed as few as 3 or 4 treatments to correct their problems returned to Steve when they had a new problem or discomfort because they trusted him to provide a lasting solution to it.

Not only did Steve’s new strategy increase his sales from his existing customers but he also started to receive new customers who were referred to him because of his professionalism. Steve’s massage prescription gave him a competitive advantage in the industry that resulted in more sales per customer and more customers.

To find out how you can dramatically improve customer loyalty in your business call your Instant Business Success Coach on (02) 9411 1345 or email info@instantbusinesssuccess.com