How to Retain Customers by Asking These Five Questions
June 25th, 2009 |
These challenging economic times prove to us now, more than ever, that it’s crucial to keep the customers we already have. Whatever business you’re in, you already know that it can cost you up to 10 times more to obtain a new customer than to cultivate and keep your existing ones. Your break-even and profitability depend on it.
So how do you find out what’s really important to your customers? You ask them. As a business owner myself, I’ve found that taking the time to ask my customers some important questions has paid off very well. And the answers they gave were sometimes a real eye-opener. In fact, in some cases what I assumed they were thinking was not what they were thinking at all. Surprise!
Some of the questions I asked were:
* On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, how would you rate your experience with us so far?
* If less than 10, what can we do to improve your experience. Folks, this is where the rubber meets the road. After�� you ask it, do NOT utter another word until your customer responds.
* Do you think of us first when you need (fill in the blank)?
* If not, who do you think of first?
* What do they do that you feel we can’t or won’t do?
The answers to these questions will give you a pretty good idea of where you stand, what your competition may be doing to win your customers, and possibly even an idea of how much market share you have. If you are not willing to create and implement a customer care survey, will you ever know what your customers are thinking or will you just assume they are satisfied? What if your survey revealed one small thing you could implement now to improve your customer’s experience? It’s worth finding out, isn’t it?
The fact that you’re willing to invest time in finding out what’s important to your customers speaks volumes to them. And that creates customer loyalty and referrals.
If you would like help in creating your own personalized customer care survey, just visit my site below.
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