For most businesses, until your customers have bought from you an average of twice, you’re losing money, typically because most businesses’ acquisition costs are high.
But businesses need to get them to come back more often and they’ll not only become profitable, they’ll become loyal customers, moving up the loyalty ladder on their way to being a raving fan.
Customer loyalty is such an important topic because it’s far easier keeping a customer than finding a new one. Yet, most businesses seem determined to do it the hard way, chasing prospects that may never become customers, instead of inspiring loyalty with their existing customers.
The fact is, unless you actively do things to encourage your customers to keep doing business with you, there’s always the chance they may be lured away by another business, isn’t there?
And by concentrating on loyalty strategies, you’ll be increasing their average rand sale and their number of transactions at the same time, which will have a direct impact on your bottom line.
This is something most businesses miss. They fail to realise there are five, and only five, basic areas on which to concentrate when trying to influence the bottom line. These are leads, conversion rate, number of transactions, average rand sale, and margins, nothing more.
Working with existing customers has to be cheaper and easier than fishing for new ones.
What do you do to keep your existing customers coming back over and over again?
Do you have proven strategies that will encourage them to buy from you again and again?
And, remember, it is vital you test and measure as you go. While there are certain rules to running a business successfully it is still largely a matter of trial and error.
This makes it essential that you meticulously record every result. It is extra work, but you’ll be glad when you have a business you know will produce results.
That confidence comes only from testing and measuring these strategies, to see what really works for your business.
Sometimes all you need is someone with an objective view, such as a business coach, to guide you through these trials and errors; someone who will help you implement test and measure strategies, so that you can know what works and what does not work.
Only once you know what you are doing wrong, can you fix it. Keep on doing the same things and you will keep on getting the same results – definitely not the reason you went into business in the first place.
Elsa Groenewald is a franchisee of the world’s #1 business coaching firm – ActionCOACH. She is a certified business coach who has successfully assisted business owners to significantly grow their profits and their entrepreneurial skills. To find out more about business coaching you can contact Elsa on 082 321 7704.
You are invited to send your business related questions or any topics you would like to see covered in the monthly articles to elsagroenewald@actioncoach.com
