Customer Focus in a Slow Economy
>>by Ray Miller
In these tough and challenging times, getting the customer experience right is critical..
I wanted to call this article “Sharpen Your Customer
Focus You Will Lose Customers!” but a few of my colleagues thought this was
a bit too blunt. Absolutely true mind you, but blunt. Then I thought why not
make the headline a question; “How Many Customers Are You Willing To Lose
Today Because of a Lack of Customer Focus?” Again, true but too direct. So
in the end I went with what you see above.
So here we are again. The economy is getting tough and for many, life is
stressful and difficult. For business, this is not new.
We’ve all been here
before. Hopefully we’ve learned from the last time the economy slowed … But
then again, have we?
Nobody wants to lose customers but you know as well as I that when the
economy gets tough, many organizations go into reactive mode. Their focus
shifts to cost control and the acquisition of new customers. History has
taught us that every time this happens, relationships with existing
customers can be put at risk. Financial responsibility is important, as is
getting new business, but not if it is at the expense of your existing
customers.
Allow me explain.
During an economic downturn most customers will be looking to increase value
for their money. They will try to make their hard earned cash go further and
you can be sure that they will be more critical when making buying
decisions.
With less disposable income, customers will be less forgiving of a mediocre
or poor service experience. And don’t forget that when it comes to service,
the vast majority, 90 to 96%, will not complain and most will simply go
elsewhere. You can bet that they will want to deal with organizations that
demonstrate that they want and appreciate their business.
You can also be guaranteed that your customers will be strongly influenced
by the commentary of their friends, acquaintances, family and colleagues
when it comes to recommendations for products or services and providers.
As I mentioned earlier, when economic conditions become more demanding, far
too many organizations focus on cost cutting and acquiring new customers
which invariably puts the relationships with their existing customers at
risk.
Quite often training budgets are the first to get cut. This includes all
important training on things like Customer Service and Leadership.
Process improvement plans get put on hold often including process
improvements that were intended to enhance the customer experience.
Even though it is five times more expensive to get new customers than it is
to keep existing already profitable customers, many organizations bolster
their marketing efforts trying to pull more customers in the front door, at
the same time virtually ignoring their existing customers who simply walk
out the backdoor looking for someone who wants and appreciates their
business and proves it through their actions.
The retention of existing customers is all the more important during
difficult economic conditions. Research proves that existing customers are
more profitable and improvements in your operating expenses and resulting
bottom line can be achieved through maintaining a high level of customer
focus. Just to remind you, don’t forget a five percent increase in customer
loyalty can contribute from 25% to 125% directly to your bottom line.
Remember that your customers always have the choice of buying from you or
your competition. When times are tough, that choice becomes even more
important.
Implementing a customer focus strategy will create valuable and long-lasting
relationships with your customers that will provide a secure and growing
revenue stream.
Focusing on getting the customer experience right is critical. Making sure
that your customers choose you over your competition is essential. If you
get it right when times are tough you will certainly reap the benefits and
rewards of unleashing the power of customer focus as conditions improve.
So this time, why not dare to be different. Why not unleash the potential of
customer focus, while everyone else has their eye off the ball.
|
Ray Miller |
| About the author: |
|
Ray Miller is Managing Partner of The
Training Bank, a Training and Consulting
firm specializing in Customer Focus, Service Improvement, Leadership and fully
customized training solutions. He is author of the book That's Customer
Focus and The Customer Focus Companion. Ray is also known for his
highly effective training programs; Customers Forever, Customer
Focused Leadership and The Wow Factor.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.thetrainingbank.com
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