Retaining existing customers is a goal that every company needs to have, however getting those customers to purchase more is also extremely important. Those customers already know you and your products, you just need to get them to purchase more of your products.
Just keeping existing customers buying and hopefully buying more is important, but if you really want your company to grow, you need to acquire more customers. Here are a few recommendations on how to grow existing customers and acquire new ones.
Customer Retention and Growth
Do Your Customers Know That You Listen To Them ? – When your customers make your brand their brand, you win. Do you listen to your customers? Customers want you to listen to them and provide the products that they want, not the products you think they want. A great place to listen to your customers is social media. When you do something right or wrong, social media is where your customers let other potential customers know how they feel about you. Use existing customers as a focus group to grow your business. When your customers feel that you are listening to them, they will feel an affiliation to your brand.
Customer Loyalty – Do you have a customer loyalty program? I have a keychain with 27 customer loyalty cards on it. Why do I do have so many? I have them because I get points, discounts or other benefits for having them.
Encourage Your Customers To Buy Other Products That You Offer – Most people are creatures of habit. When they like a brand, they become loyal to it. If your customers are buying Brand X from you, offer them related products to that product. Since your customers may not be buying the related products from you, they are buying it from someone. Make it easy for your customers to buy related products. On your website, those related products should appear when they are checking out. For example, “Don’t forget to buy batteries” when they are purchasing a flashlight.
Cross-Sell vs Upsell – Amazon has done cross-sell and upsell effectively for years. Amazon has used some very sophisticated algorithms that offered products that are normally purchased together, not necessarily related products. I know this because I implemented that same referral engine at a few companies where I worked. It was amazing how it worked. When you go to the grocery store to buy milk, do you always buy cereal at the same time? You may buy milk and ammonia because you run out of them at the same time. Amazon figured out those buying patterns and offered those products as upsells in addition to related products. Look at your customers buying patterns and you might find some very valuable information.
Customer Acquisition
Understand Who Your Existing Customers Are – It’s really easy to get a mailing list and blast out tens of thousands of direct mail pieces hoping someone will read the flier, see the light of how great your company is and immediately become a customer. Realistically, that prospect is someone else’s customer. Your job is to get them to become your customer. The best way to find those prospects is to first profile your existing customers. As I stated earlier, you want to retain your existing customers and encourage them to purchase more. You also want to find prospects that are like your best customers. It requires analysis, research and homework, but it’s worth it.
Branding – Prospects may not be existing customers because they may not know who you are and how you can help them. I have found great success creating and implementing branding and awareness campaigns using direct mail fliers, print and online advertising, email marketing and social media. People do business with people they know and trust.
Networking – LinkedIn is an excellent networking tool. Once you have determined the companies that you want to target, use LinkedIn to find the contacts. Connect with them on LinkedIn. If your company doesn’t have a LinkedIn profile, create one and include information about your products and services, as well as your value proposition.
Community Service – Yes, I said Community Service. There is no better way to let prospects and customers know what your company really stands for than reaching out and helping in the community. Get some t-shirts made up, give them to your staff and go out in the community and help someone. My company, Positive Promotions, creates custom t-shirts for a wide variety of charitable causes. It makes you and your staff feel good, builds morale and teamwork and it shows everyone in the community that you are there not just to sell your products but to give back to your community.
Listen to your customers and give them the products they want and upsell/cross-sell them other products that you sell. Profile your customers and find prospects that match that profile. Expanding your brand, network and reach out to the community will help you grow.
If you want to learn more about me, please visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog.
Photo credit: Krypto / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA