David Mclauchlan asked:
What is a customer: The persons or group that are the direct beneficiaries of a project or service – the people for whom the project is being undertaken. (Indirect beneficiaries are probably stakeholders.) If the persons or group are internal within your company, TenStep refers to them as “clients”. If they are external, TenStep refers to them as “customers”.
What does loyal mean: steadfast in allegiance or duty; “loyal subjects”; “loyal friends stood by him”
A Home based business can be extremely rewarding, but please do not going into this thinking that it will be cake walk because I guarantee you,that cake is the only thing you will be able to afford.
It used to be that customers would find one service that met their needs and stay with it for absolutely years. Now, though, customers are fickle, and can all-too-easily be tempted away by a competitor’s offer if they feel that it sounds cheaper or better than yours. So-called ‘loyalty management’ has become more of a science than it ever used to be, and it’s one that you need to make use of if you don’t want to be constantly failing to retain your customers.
You will see some businesses who give people a ‘first-time’ discount, as a hook to get people to try their services. This is entirely the wrong way to do it. What you should be trying to do is reward loyalty by giving people a discount each time they use your services. Over time, this makes it so that moving to the competition looks like a ridiculous proposition for them — why would they when they get a 20% discount from you every time?
You should have at least two mailing lists: one for your prospects (people who might buy from you), and one for your customers (people who have bought from you). You should lavish attention on both lists, but especially on the existing customer one — and really lay it on thick for anyone who’s bought from you more than once.
You need to phone up as many customers as you can to get their feedback after they deal with you. Make sure they were satisfied with what you provided, offer to fix anything that they’re not happy with, and ask them if they can think of any way you could improve. Customers will appreciate this — and they’ll like it even more if you actually implement their suggestions.
Go the extra mile to make your customer feel like they’re your friend, and not just a tracking number in your database. Tailor everything you do to their needs, and make everything easy for them — don’t leave them to do legwork that you could be doing. After all, they’re the customer.
Finally, cheesy as it might sound, customers really appreciate a little thank you note when you’ve received their payment. For an extra personal touch, you could handwrite it.
The definition of a consultant: Someone who borrows, your watch, tells you the time and then charges you for the privilege.” letter in the Times newspaper.