Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Creating Lifetime Customers

By Theo McLanahan

Customers are tremendously important to all business owners. Without customers, there would be no income and, subsequently, no business. Individuals that buy things from a company are afterwards more likely to return there to buy again.

Establishing long term relationships with clients is a good practice for companies to adopt. Instead of working hard to always find some new customer, putting forth effort to keep loyal customers coming back will wind up being more financially beneficial in the end.

Creating quality products is definitely the first step in developing your customer relationship. If your products are anything less than great, your customers will not see a reason to order from you again. However, if you give them something beyond their expectations, they will want to try out more of what you offer.

After ensuring that your product is of the highest quality, work to put your company's customer service on the same level. Respond quickly to customers, especially if they have contacted you with complaints. Customers don't care how busy you may be or what other responsibilities you have; they want to receive a timely reply and expect your undivided attention.

In an effort to keep loyal customers aware of your products and services, maintain contact with them on a regular basis. Distributing a monthly newsletter is one way to inform clients of special limited time offers and new items you may be offering. In this way customers that have forgotten to purchase more things from your business because of their own busy schedules will also be reminded to do so.

Speaking of specials, you may also want to consider having a few "customer only" sales each year or offering some other customer only incentive to motivate a repeat purchase. You may also want to send them an occasional freebie that coordinates with an item they already purchased, or an item that you will be launching in the future.

For example, if you sell day planners and you are coming out with a time management audio, send the customers who have bought a planner a free small report that covers some basic information about time management and let them know you are coming out with an audio that goes into more detail. Including a special "pre-launch price" on the audio will encourage further sales.

Establishing long term customers is by no means a short or simple process. It can be done, however, by showing them deep respect and sincere appreciation. Investing time in doing so will eventually help you make strong relationships with lifetime customers.

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