Ideal Marketing Company Blog

Marketing Seminars – Keeping Customers Happy

34. Encourage referrals.  What gets rewarded gets repeated.  If you send a thank you letter and voucher when a new client is gained as a result of a referral, do you think your customers will do it again?  By making it clear that you appreciate the effort they have made to refer business to you, you are making it much more likely that you will continue to receive business in this way.  It is not so much the gift; it is more the fact that you have taken the trouble to acknowledge the kind referral from a customer.

35. The most important people in your company are your customers.  Accept this, believe it and make sure everybody else in the company believes it too.  In some companies, customers are viewed as an inconvenience that gets in the way of getting the job done.  There would be no job, no wages and no company without them so remember who pays your mortgage, for your holidays and puts food on your table. Thank them and be grateful for them every day.

36. Get together with customers at social events, restaurants or other places away from the office or factory floor.  This change of scenery help you to be seen as more of a friend than a supplier and helps to foster deeper, more productive long term relationships.

37. Avoid silly mistakes.  When we rush it is all too easy to make simple mistakes.  These reduce your credibility in everybody’s eyes.  We all make the odd slip, but concentrate on making a great job of everything you do.  Don’t accept mistakes as inevitable, many of them can be avoided with some thought, preparation and attention to detail.  Remember, in most cases, the quality of the job will be remembered longer than the time it was delivered in.  

38. Aim for consistency.  There is a large telecoms / cable company I deal with that is 90% bad and 10% OK when you call them up for service. The few times I get my hopes up, only to be dashed when the promised delivery never arrives or the scheduled repair man doesn’t turn up.  As customers, we like to know where we are.  That’s why we like dealing with one person organisations – if that one person is good.  We know that we will get a good level of service from them.  If you have a good attitude towards customers, it’s important that any new staff you take on are briefed and trained in this.  Wouldn’t it be great if your customers felt that ‘no matter who you talk to, someone will help you out?’  There is nothing worse than playing Russian roulette with a company’s call centre.  One day you get a little star, the next you get somebody who would clearly rather be elsewhere.

For more marketing ideas come to our next free marketing seminar on February 9^th  Hothorpe Hall, near Leicestershire – see the seminars page for full details.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Customer Care, Free Marketing Seminar, Marketing Seminar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.