Sales Strategy
Keeping Your Revenue Stream Through Customer Loyalty | March 30, 2016 (0 comments)
Miami, FL—I could go on for days on this subject. Remember I am not a real Internet shopper; I love brick and mortar and want the whole experience. I want to interact with well-informed, trained sales associates. If it is a clothing designer I like, I want to know what they can tell me about the fashion house. If my sales associate and I click, the storeowner is going to be very pleased. I am loyal and feel invested.
Now, how to make that happen? This is how I see it. There are number of things businesses can do to achieve more success and stability by attracting more recurring revenue through customer loyalty.
1. The first of these is communication. Sounds logical enough, right? But as I say in my office, which is a pet peeve of mine, frequent interactions with customers is imperative if businesses are to succeed in today's economy. It not only demonstrates to customers that you, as a business, care about them but can also help you find ways in which you can improve their overall experience. This will increase customer happiness, which turns into customer loyalty. Regular scheduled check-ins, maybe with periodic newsletters (that is what we do with Continental Buying Group and Preferred Jewelers International) can be a great way of making your customers feel valued and appreciated.
2. On the other hand, one-way communication isn't enough in itself to ensure customer loyalty. Businesses must also learn to listen to what their customers are telling them and demonstrate that their attempts to communicate or not simply for show and that you really do care! Be sure to take time to listen to feedback from customers, and listen to what they are telling you. Demonstrate that your attempts at communication are not simply for show and that you really do care. Listen to customers when they tell you how they feel about your product and service. Also bear in mind that you don't necessarily need to enter into a dialogue with customers in order to listen to them. Now people are using analytics to study their customers’ online behavior. They can tell you about your customer behavior patterns, their issues and their preferences and engage them on a one-to-one basis. Taking note of these preferences can be a key way to avoid customer churn and ensure customer loyalty on an ongoing basis.
3. Finally, it's important to act on all the nuggets of information you’ve managed to obtain from communicating and listening. You must keep making changes in your organization to reflect all you have obtained. After all why did you go through all this effort if you're not prepared to take firm decisive action that reflects your customers views? The ability to make “change” that echoes what your customers are telling you, should never be underestimated and can give customers the reassurance they need that their views are not only being listen to, but also acted upon.
Done correctly, engaging with customers can be a great way of building loyalty and securing recurring venue. By increasing engagement and creating a positive experience, businesses can create habitual behavior. (Once again I am talking about me!) For you, it will ensure a stable regular flow of revenue that could be the difference between success and failure.
Customer loyalty and recurring revenue should not be a petty concern, especially in today's world of technology. Indeed and you can tell I feel strongly about this. With the right approach it could be the difference between a costly failure and establishing success and stability for years to come! --Andie
Andie Weinman, president and CEO of Preferred Jewelers International / Continental Buying Group Inc., was born with the “Jewelry Gene” working in the jewelry industry since she was only ten years old. Her first job was as a cashier in the opening of a catalog showroom doing a fantastic job even at that tender age. Andie holds a B.A. in musical theatre and a B.S. in marine biology from The University of Tampa. When she realized that seawater and marine biology were not good on her hair and she wasn’t quite good enough to make it on Broadway, the jewelry business beckoned. Andie has picked diamonds, sorted color stones, shot waxes and performed a multitude of jobs in the manufacturing of jewelry. Her negotiating experience and prowess has given her the reputation as being tough but fair in her dealings with vendors. In 2012 the Indian Diamond and Color Association awarded Andie the Prestigious Doyenne Award of the Year.