“The customer is king.”
This is a statement that is so oft repeated that it sounds like a cliché. Truly, the customer is king – after all, without customers, businesses would not thrive or even exist. Listening to your customers’ complaints and observing them in the way they use your products and services can help your business grow, as you will discover ways to improve your products and services.
For example, an eatery in a business district might notice that its clientele do not take breakfast because they come to office early; therefore, they decide to add a breakfast menu, which they can deliver to offices. While the customers may not have verbally expressed a desire for this service, the eatery has used powers of observation to meet their unmet need.
However, when it comes to customer service, some customers are more king than others. It has been prove that about 80 per cent of sales come from 20 per cent of customers, and this is actually conservative. Still, despite this, many businesses spend way more time and effort trying to attract new customers than retaining existing ones, oblivious to the fact that it costs thrice as much to attract new customers than retain new ones.
So what are the benefits of showing extra attention to your existing and regular customers besides just cost savings?
- Making sure your regular customers are treated extra special makes them brand advocates as they willingly and cheerfully spread the word about your business.
- They are more willing to forgive the occasional slip-up in your product or service quality.
- For the sake of driving the point home, you save marketing costs.
Now how do you go about identifying and treating some customers extra special? Basically, you can identify the customers that need extra pampering from either how regular. They are or the volume of business they do with you. For instance. A bank will pay more attention to an account holder depositing billions with them than a regular small accounts holder.
There are many different ways to treat your customers, well or special – your ideas can only be limit by you.
I will give you a few examples:
• Discounts are a perk that apply to about every type of business. And will be love by almost any customer.
• A restaurant makes the effort to remember the favorite orders of their most regular customers and suggest it to them as they come. It will make the customer feel at home.
• Gifts and hampers to your valued customers go a long way in cementing relationships.
• You might offer free delivery for customers that are regular customers or those who make orders in bulk.
I could go on and on, but you get the main points already. It is good to treat your customers well, but identify those customers to treat extra special. It will be more than worth the effort.