5 ways to create customer loyalty

Mothernode Author — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 17:15:10 +0000

3 minute read

5 ways to create customer loyalty

And why not doing these things might be showing your customer the door.

Regardless of your industry, the size of your company or the products you sell, one thing is consistent: there is nothing more important than keeping your customer base happy and sustaining customer loyalty.

Every business should always try and out-do the previous experience they offered their customer when having the opportunity to serve them again, especially if the previous experience wasn’t a good one. The statement often used by flight attendants rings true for every company, “we realize you have a choice when it comes to ‘insert your products/services’ and we thank you for choosing ‘insert your company name’. Your customers always have a choice and more often than not, you have a choice in their overall experience when they interact with your company.

Aside from the fact that some customers can be extremely unreasonable, unpleasant and downright impossible to please, these are a few things you can do or not do to sustain customer loyalty. Depending on what sells, not all of these recommendations may apply to your customers. These are some general ideas and things that you can do to differentiate yourself and your level of service in your market.

Keep your offerings fresh. Your customers want something new and exciting, the latest and greatest. Nobody is interested in dated products or packaging. Stay current and stay relevant. Offer new versions, models, colors, and sizes, if these types of options are possible. Market trends shift and economies change, so you may find yourself needing to adjust to the current climate. Change can be good for many reasons, but you need to prepare for it rather than respond to it.

Stay in touch. Between email, phone calls, social media, digital marketing, and so many other channels, there’s no excuse for not being in touch on a regular basis. What are you doing for your best customers? Take them to lunch or give them a quick call to check up on them. “How are things? We haven’t talked in a while.” is a simple way to gauge satisfaction. Don’t sell. Service. There are opportunities to sell and opportunities to build relationships. Know this.

Random act of kindness. Not everyone has the opportunity to speak to their customer on a regular basis. For your best customers, why not send them a gift or promotional item with a note of thanks. Alternatively, provide them with an unexpected discount on their next deal. Making your customer feel important for no special reason other than recognizing their loyalty can go a long way.

Watch your competitors. If you’re not watching your competition, you’re not watching your back. Pick your top 5 most relevant competitors and pay attention to the way they position themselves in the market, know what they sell and how much they sell it for. Get on their email marketing list. Learning from them, including what to do and what not to do, is a free lesson you can sign-up for right now. Staying on top of your competition and any surprises can help you proactively prepare for a war on your customers.

Automate your service and marketing communications. You can’t spend your days giving every single customer personalized attention, but if you’re not wooing your customer with routine customer service or ‘relevant’ promotional offers or important news, just know that at some point your competitors will be. Email automation is the best and most economical way to keep your services and brand connected to your customer. Think of it this way; if you’re not giving your spouse attention, someone else will.

Jumpstart your Sales and Marketing initiatives with Mothernode CRM.

Selling Stages: Simplify your sales process and close more deals

Mothernode Author — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 04:22:17 +0000

4 minute read

Shorten your “selling stages” and simplify your sales workflow.

Many of the leading CRMS will provide you with a wealth of business intelligence to help stay on top of your sales pipeline and give you a deeper perspective into the activities conducted by your sales team. In fact, in some cases it could be too much insight or overkill, having you decipher so much business intelligence your overlooking the basics or the obvious. When you look too closely at the wallpaper you can’t see the pattern.

Don’t get me wrong; the more analytics you can draw from your business, the better decisions you’ll be able to make, assuming your versed in understanding what to look for and your interest in your data is routine so you can record patterns, irregularities, trends and so on. Consistent monitoring of KPIs and reports are instrumental in understanding your data.

Two key criteria that are at the heart of every sales process are the Selling Stage and the Buying Stage, or to be more specific; where the customer is in your selling process and when you are in their buying process. Each company has their own Selling Stages and Buying Stages that are based on a number of factors, such as sales cycle, products and services, manufacturing and distribution lead times and so on. But despite your business and selling process, regardless of how you label these stages in your CRM one thing is consistent- All Selling Stages have a start and end point and all Buying Stages will prioritize which prospects deserve immediate attention.

Selling Stages

As a sales rep, from your first conversation with a lead, it’s your challenge and responsibly to qualify the prospect’s interest and overall needs and them guide them through toward a closed deal. Defining selling stages adds structure to your sales process and creates a common funnel that you can try and steer each prospect through. The better control you have over your selling stages, the more likely you are to close the deal. In fact, as many successful sales reps will share, you should have complete control over your selling process, you need to command the relationship, and always plan the next move for you and the prospect. Using Selling Stages will help you stay the course every time and develop a habitual track that is sure to increase your close ratio, by becoming more organized within your own sales process.

Define your selling stages

Selling stages have activities that include a beginning, middle and an end. When establishing your selling stages, it’s in your best interest to have as few as possible. More stages and more options will confuse and prolong your says process and as they say, “time kills all deals”. It’s also best to share your sells process with your prospect, so they have an idea of what to expect up front. This is another way you will take control of the sale.

1. Qualify.

Not every prospect is an ideal fit. The more you understand about your prospect’s needs, the better you have a chance of closing the business. If you’re not a right match, then it’s in your best interest to avoid the aggravation of dealing with an unhappy customer. The quick question (and hopefully obvious one) is, do you solve the prospects problem? If yes, move to the next round.

2. Presentation

Once you determine you’re a good fit, prove it. Show your prospect you understand their pain points and demonstrate how your product or service can add value by solving their problems and producing added benefits.

3. Draft Proposal

Sometimes pricing is straight forward, but sometimes options need to be considered, especially in consultative selling. Produce draft pricing, estimates and options and then review them clearly with your prospect. This will give you the opportunity to achieve to very important activities in your selling process. 1) When presenting options you’ll better set expectations, and 2) You’re letting your customer determine their price point and solution, they feel in control in the pricing process, because you are giving them a choice in their purchasing. Just make sure you continue to command the selling process.

4. Final Proposal

Based on the results and decisions finalized in the draft pricing process you now present the prospect with the arrangement they chose and they’re ready to seal the deal with you.

5. Close

Your final selling stage ends with the prospects commitment to buy. They sign the deal and the sales order is initiated.

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5 ways to create customer loyalty