Many people start establishments and businesses for a wide variety of reasons, from solving a problem to identifying a gap in the market for a product or service that you believe will benefit the end-user(your customers). Whatever the reason may be, for your business to exist and continue you need customers to sell your product or service to. The more customers or clients you can service the more your business can grow.
Retaining clients is undoubtedly one of the best ways to grow a business because these clients will continue using your products and services and can even refer or recommend your services so that other people may enjoy the benefits of the product and services that you offer them.
Here are some effective ways to retain customers:
- Be Punctual – Be efficient and deliver your goods and services on time or quicker than the time your customer expected you to deliver. This will allow your customer to feel prioritized and taken seriously. The sooner you can furnish them with what they need the sooner they can become happy.
- Be Reliable – Go an extra mile for your customers and provide them with the product or services that you said you would provide them within a timely manner. Keep your promisies on delivering what’s promised to your customers and give them peace of mind on their money’s worth. Customers want security, integrity, and the assurance that if there is a problem they can rely on you as the service provider to handle it and maintain cosinstant transperancy at all times. Manage your customer’s expectations at all times even once a business transaction is concluded.
- Be Attractive – First impressions last and customers draw a lot of conclusions about the quality of service based on what they see. Provide an experience to your customers and invest in giving your customers a feel-good experience after using your products or services. Anything the customer sees, feels, touches, hears, or smells concerning your business is shaping his/her opinion of your service for better or worse.
- Be Available – This means being accessible, available, and willing to help customers whenever they have a problem. Always be available to improve the lives of your customers. Availability allows you to consistently meet your customer’s expectations.
- Be Empathic and Reasonable – Every customer is a special individual who wants to be treated as such. He has his own unique needs, wants, personality and reason for conducting business with you or looking for your services. Listen to your clients needs and demands, pay attention to the story they tell you, and understand what their exact needs are so that you can provide them with exactly what they need. Get feedback from your customer on their experience and whether your product helped. If your customer gives you negative feedback try to take lessons from that and see if there are areas that you can improve to make them feel better. Remember that everything needs to be within reason and if you are unable to provide the product or service your customer needs suggest an alternative or refer them to where they can find exactly where they can be assisted. Customers will always remember how you made them feel and the solutions you provide even if it does not directly benefit your business.
