Staying Present after the Job

Marketing is more than just ‘shouting’ your name out to the world and calling people to you with services and products that people want to buy. Marketing is about retaining those people after you have them in your ‘clutches’ so to speak. I have had it quoted to me that it takes only a 1/10 of the effort (and cost) to retain a customer than it takes to get a new one, and from my experience it takes even less than that if done right. So how do you keep hold of these customers? Naturally you have the good business practice of providing good customer service in a timely fashion with fair pricing, that  goes a long way in achieving customer retention. However every one of your competitors will be doing that (if they want to last in the business) so how do you make yourself stand out? The answer is surprisingly simple…

Customer retention can be a challenging prospect for many businesses that offer services or products that don’t have an immediate repeating demand. People get coffee to go daily, buy food weekly, pay for phones monthly, even buy clothes seasonally. These repeating patterns help build a habitual loyalty in people which is hard to break. You always get your takeaways at that one place not because its the best or the cheapest but because it’s where you always go. What if you are in an industry that can never build up that kind of pattern, where years may pass between calls, or you are only used when something goes wrong. How do you remind people of the great service you did last time? Especially if they have lost any paperwork, or the property or item has changed hands in the mean time? The answer can be as simple as a sticker.

No I am not kidding, just a sticker. In broader terms is means using a form of non invasive advertising to show that you are the one that has provided the service before and are ready to provide it again when needed. This simple idea is a very powerful tool to retain customers. I won’t say that people are lazy (though we all want to do things with the least effort possible), what I am saying is that we all want simple solutions and giving them a contact to call right away when they need it is an appealing one.

What are examples of this? Every car you buy has the dealer’s details on a frame around the license plate, some even go as far as putting decals on the back window. You’ll also see an oil change reminder on the windscreen with the brand of oil and who did the service. Leasing a water cooler for your office, that will have the supplier’s logo all over it. Buy a printer and that will have software that you have to install to run it, which in the process reminds you which brand and model of consumables you should buy for it. Even buying kids toys may have a reminder on the packaging telling you the best brand of batteries for it. Now none of this forces you to use that brand that is advertised, but as I said before, everyone wants the quickest simplest solution so they tend to go with the first one they find.

So how can you do it yourself?  Well here are a few examples.

• an electrician replacing fuses in a fuse box, so you put a service card in there with notes of what you did and how to contact you when needed.
  
• installed a garage door, so have a sticker on it listing the model details, when it was installed and how to contact you.
• a beautician supplies the customer with a take home bottle of makeup remover, then it should have your company details on the label so if it gets given to someone else they know where it came from.
• repair man services a microwave so you attach a small card to the power cord listing when the servicing was done, warranty details and how they can get in contact with you.
• fire sftery inspector certifies office fire hoses, so why not have the inspection log be a sticker you can write on and all the contact details required by regulation.

See all the examples I’ve just listed are simple low cost and low effort ‘there and then’ processes. You get your name in a position where people need it they can find it right away. Make it easier to for them to reach you and you will get more of them doing just that.

Not sure the best way of doing this simple method of getting customer retention? Then talk to us at  Copy Express. We can discuss what you need to achieve and what would be the most cost effective solution to suit you needs.