Building customer loyalty: 3 pitfalls to avoid!
How do you build customer loyalty? That's a good question. In this article, we're going to decipher 3 mistakes to avoid when it comes to customer loyalty. They can really ruin your efforts when you've managed to close sales and you're looking to develop the value of your existing customer portfolio.
What are the 3 mistakes to avoid if you want to improve customer loyalty?
Today, the difference between the most profitable companies on the planet, those that last, and the others, is precisely their ability to build customer loyalty.
This ability to turn customers into fans so that they can capitalise on the increase in value with each customer.
This makes a fundamental and decisive difference to economic performance. I refer you to the well-known statistics: it costs 10 times more to recruit a customer than to retain one.
So systematically chasing after new customers is not the right approach when you're looking to develop and scale your business over the long term.
So we're going to look at the three classic mistakes that can lead to a huge loss of sales if you're not careful...
Quite simply because they will cause your customers to leave for the competition. No more, no less.
First mistake: Not caring about the customer after the sale
First fatal mistake: not caring about the customer after the sale. Many salespeople and companies are still mass-marketing and slaughtering customers.
And once the sale is made, the sales people move on to another customer. They don't care about the existing customer or how satisfied they are.
I tend to say that if you don't care about your customer, don't worry, your competition will take care of it for you.
You'll have done the work for them, and it will be much easier for them to fill the gaps you've left, whether consciously or not.
How can you differentiate yourself?
If you want to avoid this pitfall, the first thing to do is simply to include a systematic post-purchase customer satisfaction check in your sales process.
This could be at D+1, at D+7, a week later, a fortnight later... It all depends on the delivery terms you have in relation to the nature of the product or service you are selling.
But to avoid this fundamental error, you should automatically schedule a reminder and contact points to check customer satisfaction.
Why should you do this?
Because it doesn't take much!
It's quick, and it gives a higher level of satisfaction to your customer, who feels that you're still there after the sale.
They feel that you didn't just try to make a sale and a profit, and then move on to something else. No, they feel that you're still there for them!
First of all, this helps you stand out from the crowd of ordinary salespeople. And it also means that you can check that there haven't been any little glitches or hot potatoes that need to be dealt with quickly (as we say in the jargon).
Listening, taking notes and dealing with customer issues is also what sets you apart and makes you look like a true professional.
It really is the key word. To build loyalty, differentiate yourself from the mass of players who don't care about the customer after the sale.
Second mistake: having a single point of contact after the sale
The second mistake, following on from the first, is to have just one point of contact after the sale.
So, yes, we go step by step, crescendo. It's important to be concerned about customer satisfaction. But that's not enough.
Why isn't that enough?
Quite simply because needs evolve. And what's true at one moment isn't really true a week or a few months later.
The context changes, there's staff turnover. If you work in the B-to-B sector, you probably know this. And in B-to-C, it's the same thing: the only constant is change.
If you want to be commercially sustainable, if you want to do business over the long term, if you want to develop customer value (increase volume / frequency of purchase), you need to multiply the points of contact.
They need to take the temperature of their customers on a regular basis to find out:
- How are things progressing?
- How satisfied are they?
- What are the new needs?
- What are the results to date?
- What could be done differently?
- etc.
How do you structure your customer loyalty process?
There are quite a few things you can include in your customer loyalty process. But the first mistake, as you will have realised, is to stop after just one contact after the sale.
It doesn't pay to do the bare minimum!
Today's competition is so fierce that if you don't want your customers to go elsewhere, you have to do more than the others.
You have to do things differently, and that means multiplying your points of contact.
So, first of all, you need at least a second one. I don't know, once again it depends on your business model, your sales cycle, the obsolescence of your products, the renewal of the consumables that go with your products and services...
But you should perhaps plan a second point of contact at D + 1 month, D + 3 months, or D + 6 months. And it might even be a good idea to try and map out your ideal customer relationship:
- How often should you contact your customer?
- How (which channels/means)?
- About what?
So that your customers are never left to fend for themselves against the competition.
You must always mark out the territory, and stay in the picture. And always be the person you think of when you want to make a recommendation. Or when you want to take your customer relationship even further:
- New order
- Increase in volume/frequency
- Consumption of an additional product or service, etc.
Third mistake: Not asking what can be improved
Third mistake, and this is where the problem lies: not trying to improve things. Not asking what can be improved in the product/service or in the quality of service, quite simply.
Why is this vital?
Because you may not have the same vision, depending on whether you're a salesperson or the founder/creator of the solution. You may not have control over the quality of the product or service...
The only thing you can control is the quality of the service.
And with equivalent products (products with similar characteristics), it's always the quality of service that wins out. And that's something you can do something about!
So you have no excuse for offering mediocre quality of service to your existing customers.
Once again, this is one of the gaps, one of the chasms into which the competition will easily slide if you haven't done your job properly.
Stand out from the crowd!
For comfort, and for fear of being confronted with what's wrong, the classic sales syndrome is not to look for what can be improved. It means not going into the area of dissatisfaction or potential areas for improvement.
In any case, those who do clearly stand out.
Why do you think this is?
Because customers like to express themselves!
Customers like to give feedback on what's going well, but above all on what's not. And they are deeply moved when we ask them what would improve their customer experience.
So, by going into this area and systematically asking for feedback, you can differentiate yourself, stand out from the crowd and shine commercially.
So, in the mapping / chronology of your optimal customer experience, you should include contact points that are of the order of the satisfaction survey and the assessment.
Take a moment to hold out the microphone to your customer and ask:
- How satisfied are you?
- What is our current score out of 10?
- If we could give you 11 out of 10, an ideal customer experience, what should we be doing that we're not doing at the moment?
- What would make the experience exceptional in your eyes?
- What are the things that would make you not even think of comparing us to the competition when you place a new order?
It's up to you to find the right words and the right questions. You get the idea.
You have to go out on a limb here, and open up the microphone to your customers so that you can improve customer loyalty and turn your customers into fans. Turn them into ambassadors for whom you can easily obtain testimonials, recommendations and business referrals, sometimes even naturally, because they are so happy working with you.
And if that doesn't come naturally, you can always ask them. It'll happen quite quickly if they're happy to work with you.
I'll leave you to imagine the impact on your sales growth if you use this type of customer loyalty strategy and avoid these 3 all-too-common mistakes...
Article translated from French