Tips for increasing your customer base

Tips for increasing your customer base

If you want your company to be successful, you will need to place great value on developing lifetime relationships with your customers.In today's market customers are being approached from all different types of competitors.Your customer's loyalty must not be taken for granted.

You need to have a strong focus on customers, and in doing so you must recognize that relationship building, communication, and customer service are all critical in increasing your customer base and maintaining that relationship.

Here are some important tips to help increase your customer base.

1. Get to know your customer.
- Determine what you need to know, such as, what do they like or dislike about your service or product? How do they feel your business handles complaints? Are they repeating customers?
- Use survey methods to measure customer satisfaction, such as, direct mail, telephone, or focus groups (people who share their opinions about your product or service)
- Hire a market research company to develop questions and interpret findings.
- Keep an up to date record of compliments and complaints. Share these opinions at staff meetings.
- Make adjustments and improvements necessary to keep the customer coming back.

2. Communicate effectively.Innovative tools need to be easily accessible, such as, the internet, cell phones, faxes and voice mail; all of which are designed to enhance our ability to communicate. In order for these tools to be effective, one must have a good knowledge of communication skills in the marketplace.It is important to make a good first impression using body language such as:

- Smiling
- Eye contact
- Arms unfolded
- Legs uncrossed

3. Always improve upon your listening skills.Use open ended questions to develop and encourage conversation. It is okay to probe for the meaning behind a customer's statements. Validate your customer by agreeing with them.To do this you can repeat back, key words and phrases, as a subconscious way of agreeing with them. This is a good way of clarifying communication and to build a good relationship.Do not interrupt, argue, or dominate the conversation.

4. Exceptional customer service is important. Quality customer service is both a responsibility and an opportunity. The top two complaints with regards to customer service are unreturned phone calls and failing to keep promises.

The best kind of customer service is that which surpasses your customer's expectations.Here are five important customer service tips.

- Under-promise and over-deliver.
- Pay attention to small things (return phone calls, e-mails, etc.).
- Keep in contact and keep good records. Write down and record all relevant information.
- Give your customers promotional gifts, like, a coffee mug, letter opener, or a calendar.
- Establish a feedback system to monitor how your customers rate your service or product.

To grow a company it is important to constantly market for new customers.
Service is not defined by what you think it is, but rather how your customers perceive it.

It may seem as though it takes forever to develop a stable relationship with a customer. Business owners often make the costly mistake of servicing a customer once and then assume that this customer is going to stay a customer without a further need to maintain or cultivate that relationship. While a growing business needs to constantly capture new customers, the focus and priority should be on pleasing the current customer base. Companies that do not nurture a relationship with their customer base ultimately fail.This will not help you in your ability to attract, and keep, new clients.

The key components in marketing and business growth do come from time spent in developing long lasting and trustworthy relationships.This is a strategy that will move you forward and increase your sales by 50%, without the need to increase your budget.