Customers are the lifeblood of every business big or small. These are the people who are paying to keep your lights on so that you can provide them with goods or services. The key to any successful business is building up their group of loyal customers and maintaining it.

Benefits Of Having Loyal Customers

Loyal customers can provide your company with a steady income. Having this steady income is of high importance for startups and their owners in the workplace. That is because the owner will have higher authority among his employees which results in a higher commitment to producing quality work for the company.

Having a good relationship with your clients builds up their resistance to going to your competitors and if you are not giving the same level of service they will let you know. Plus if you have systems in place to encourage referrals you can turn that $100 advertising investment for getting that first customer into $200.

Remember the longer the customer does business with your company the more income your business will have. Whether it is because they work their way up into your premium membership or bring in their friends. This way you can spend less on advertising on random people who may or may not buy from you to focusing your efforts on retaining the customers you have.

Having loyal customers are easier to do business with than anyone else. That is because they trust you and are more than happy to do business with you. Just do not become that guy who only stops by to ask for money. Start with something simple. Send out thank you letters to your loyal customers and do not ask for anything in return. Customers want to feel important and you should treat them as such otherwise they can always pack up and go elsewhere with their business.

How Do Companies Lose Customers?

The four most common reasons that companies lose customers:

•  They do not invest in any form of customer retention. As a result, customers just wander off. An excellent example of this would have to be Walmart as they put more of their money towards bringing in another customer instead of retaining their current clients. Most large companies are like this and can get away with this because of their large scale operations bringing in millions. However, for smaller businesses, this is not a valid option.

• The company simply ignores their customers when something goes wrong or just sends them from one person to another. My family had this happen during our trip to Spain when our flight was canceled, and we had to hop onto serval planes until we arrived at our destination. Only problem was we had no luggage upon landing. It took a week and several days of phone calls until our bags had arrived at our hotel. Can’t say that I will be flying with American Airlines any time soon.

• If a problem does occur and a customer leaves there is no system set up to recuse unhappy customers. During my family’s flight home from Spain. The airline could have paid for the items we had to buy because we had nothing but the clothes on our back. My family did submit a formal complaint, and the airline said they were going to repay us within 24 days. That was almost 90 days ago with no word from them.

• Not having an established referral system. As clients stop doing business because of age, moving away, or for any other reason having a referral system can help to lessen the loss of clients.

Want More On How To Retain Customers?

I highly recommend reading Dan S. Kennedy’s book No B.S. Guide To Maximum Referrals & Customer Retention The Ulitmate No Holds Barred Plan To Securing New Customers And Maximum Profits. Dan goes into great detail on how business owners can construct systems into their companies that will increase client loyalty, referrals, and maintain a higher level of income.