Brian Tracy outlines eight strategies for keeping customers long-term. Resales are roughly 10 times easier than first sales, and referrals 15 times easier. Ask customers directly if they'd recommend you, and request a 1-10 rating to catch and fix problems before they leave.
More than $400 (in time, travel, advertising, lead generation and other expenses).
Eight Undeniable Tips to Keep Customers for Life Dedicate yourself to serving your customers and your sales will take care of themselves. Brian Tracy if you asked your customers to rate their satisfaction with your service, would they give you wonderful reviews? A direct sale to a customer today can cost more than $400 in terms of time, travel, advertising, lead generation and other expenses. Acquiring a customer at this cost can put a company out of business unless that customer buys again and again. The best salespeople and the best companies implement strategies to acquire customers and keep them for life. Your goal must be to develop long term customer relationships and then hold onto them in the face of ever more aggressive competition. When you install a customer acquisition and retention strategy, you must do more to build and maintain long term customer relationships than ever before. By continually thinking in terms of customers for life, your success in sales will be assured. We're going to share eight of Brian's favorite tips so that you can increase customer satisfaction and keep customers for life. First, always focus on the second sale. The first sale with any customer is always the hardest and most expensive, but it is the second that is the most important. The second sale is proof that you have delivered on the promises you made during the first sale. In reality, you actually go out each day and you sell your promises to people in exchange for their money. You promise that your product or service will give them certain benefits that they are not currently enjoying. When they come back and buy from you again, they are putting their stamp of approval on your offerings and confirming that you did deliver on your promises. Second, resales and referrals are almost free. Resales to satisfied customers are 10 times easier than new sales to new customers. A resale only requires 1/10 of the time and effort to achieve. This is why the most successful companies measure their success by how often their customers buy again. A referral from a satisfied customer is 15 times easier to sell than a cold call. Selling to a referral Requires only 1/15 of the time, cost and effort to make. In fact, if you have a good referral, the sale is 90% made before you walk in the door. Third, create a golden chain of satisfaction and referrals. Once you've made the sale and the customer is happy, develop what Brian calls a golden chain of referrals by asking everyone to refer you to other interested prospects. Ask confidently, ask expectantly, ask courteously, but always ask customers and even non customers if they can refer someone else to you. When asking people for a referral, assure them that you will put no pressure on the person whose name they are providing. People are hesitant about sharing referrals until they are convinced that the friend or associate that they are referring will not be unhappy or angry with them for giving you their name. Fourth, Generate word of mouth advertising. The most powerful method for you to generate referrals in today's competitive marketplace is is by triggering word of mouth on the part of your happy customers. Your aim is to make your customers part of your sales force by getting them to actually sell for you when they talk to other prospective customers. Do you want to know how to motivate them to do this? The way that you motivate your customers to sell for you is by giving them outstanding customer service. The most important element of outstanding customer service is always speed. Speedy response to questions, concerns and inquiries is a key measure of how many referrals you are likely to get. Fast. Continuous customer care are essential tools for getting referrals. Practice the golden rule of selling Serve your customers the way you would like your suppliers to serve you. Serve your customers the way you would serve your spouse, your mother, or your closest friend. Go the extra mile. Always do more than is expected. Fifth, ask the ultimate question. The one single question that is more indicative of customer satisfaction in referral business than any other single question is based on your experience with us. Would you recommend us to others? The willingness of a customer to recommend you to others is the highest level of customer satisfaction. Very often, if you form a good relationship with non customers, they will like and trust you so much that they will recommend you to others even if they do not buy themselves. Sixth, always ask for a review at the end of the sales conversation. You can ask this question on a scale of 1 to 10, would you recommend us to others? Of course your goal is to get a 10. When your customers give you a 10, they will become a raving fan. They will become a customer and brand advocate. They will tell all of their friends to buy from you as well. But what if you receive a grade of less than 10? Say 7 or 8? You say thank you for your answer. Then immediately ask what would we have to do to earn a 10 from you next time? Keep asking your customers how are we doing and how could we be better next time? The highest paid and most successful salespeople are those who develop a series of satisfied customers who are who buy from them again and again, provide faster and easier sales, are less price sensitive and form the basis for the growth of any business. This is your goal as well. Seventh, improve your customer service strategy. Develop a customer sales and service strategy that enables you to keep customers for life. This customer service approach does not happen by accident. It requires careful planning, discussion and training of everyone who deals with your customers. All successful salespeople and businesses are known for how well they treat their customers. This must be your goal always. Finally, take Action. What one action can you take with every customer and prospective customer that will cause them to want to refer other prospects to you now? We'd love to hear from you. So our question today is what is the one action or behavior on the part of anyone in your company that might reduce customer satisfaction and referral business? How could you eliminate it and how fast? Leave a comment below and we'll be sure to follow up with you. Thanks for watching and as Brian says, if you want to change your future, take action and take action now.
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