Thriving in recession - looking after your customers
Your customers should be one of your greatest assets.
Profile them into four categories:
- Must keep
- Want to keep
- Would prefer to keep
- Want to lose
Must keep customers
Meet them regularly and at multiple levels - not with the objective of selling more to them (although this may be the result), but to:
- Understand their issues, challenges and opportunities.
- Understand what you can do to help them.
- Get a better feel for their financial health.
- Build a relationship - tell them they are important to you.
- Understand what minor changes in your processes, systems or service can help them.
- Understand what differentiates you from other vendors and how you may be able to provide a better product or service than them.
- Make sure everyone in your organisation, from the receptionist to the Chairman, knows that these customers always come first.
Finally: develop a one page plan for each "Must Keep" customer. This should be owned by a director and reviewed regularly.
Want to keep customers
In addition to normal sales activity, communicate well with this group by email and telephone
- Review their historic ordering patterns and anticipate what other products or services might be relevant to them. Offer attractive deals on these additional products.
- Consider introducing a personalised discount programme e.g. In any quarter, as soon as they reach the previous year's level of spending, further orders in that quarter are discounted.
- Carry out a customer satisfaction survey. Design it well so that the answers give you critical information about the issues you need fix to avoid losing customers and additional sales opportunities.
Would prefer to keep customers
This is "business as usual". Try to look after them, include them in normal communication programmes, provide a good service and hopefully they will stay. Your mangement and sales focus however must be on the top two categories, including adding new customers to these categories.
Want to lose
Many companies have this type of customer. Revenue is not particularly high and they consume a disproportionate amount of sales, support and management time that eats into margins and stops you servicing customers in the top two categories.
Don't be afraid to have a conversation with them, explaining that the current relationship does not work for you and the changes you would like to make. If the relationship can be changed they can be promoted into a category above. Otherwise, stop doing business with them.
For more information contact Paul Chapman on 0207 100 1233 or paul.chapman@azurepartners.co.uk
Azure Partners work alongside progressive companies from their earliest stages through growth and maturity to preparing them for sale or flotation. We have the skills, the commercial experience and the necessary knowledge to significantly enhance the value of your business.