5 Ways To Gain Customer Loyalty
With start-ups and new business ideas popping up – and dying down – faster than you can blink, it’s no wonder that today’s entrepreneurs are struggling to gain and keep customer loyalty. In this post, we outline the most foolproof ways to impress your clientele, broaden your business, and getting people to come back for more:
[success]1.Learn How To Take Constructive Criticism[/success]
This is a golden rule for all businesses, especially for entrepreneurs looking to keep customers happy. If something isn’t right, don’t get defensive – fix it! Push your pride aside and roll up your sleeves so that you can figure out a way to better yourself and your company. One way to do this is check out reviews on websites like Yelp, answer them personally, and invite the people that have given you a critique back to your business for a second-chance experience. This will prove that you are motivated and dedicated to your business and is a sure-fire way to impress clients.
[success]2. Don’t Trash Talk The Competition[/success]
While it may be tempting, this is an absolutely bad idea. Think of it this way: If you are trash talking other businesses in your field, what makes you think clients and customer will respect you as a business owner? That’s child’s play. Even if a competitor is the one doing the bashing, don’t acknowledge it. Take the high road and be respectful, your product and morally sound business practices speak for them selves and your customers will appreciate you for it.
[success]3. If You Make A Promise, Make Sure To Deliver[/success]
There is nothing worse, from a customers’ point of view, than having a business owners promise you something and then quickly go back on that promise when they cannot deliver. The way to maneuver a customer or client asking for something that you aren’t 100% sure you can do for them is to offer them alternatives that you can do. You’ll be surprised at how willing most people are to compromise. No one is expecting you to be able to do anything and everything, its perfectly acceptable to say, “I’m sorry, but we don’t offer that service/product”.
[success]4. Be Weary Of Customers That Call You Buddy[/success]
This is the type of client or customer that will try to forge a friendship with you for the sake of discounts, favors, and special treatment via your business. There will come a time when every entrepreneur will have to deal with this situation. Our advice? Know where to draw the line. There are set prices and rates for a reason, don’t let a “friend” pressure you into doing any favors you don’t feel comfortable doing and remember, if this person was really your friend, they would never put you in such a situation.
[success]5. The Customer Is Not Always Right[/success]
Anyone that has ever worked in the customer service world knows that there will always be people that make complaints just for the sake of making complaints. Customer loyalty is about keeping the customers you want, so when situations become escalated, stand by your staff, do what you can to make the customer happy, but at the end of the day you need to know that sometimes this isn’t always going to happen – and you need to be okay with that. Loyal customers won’t make your job harder than it has to be.
How do you gain customer loyalty for your business? Tell us below in the comments!
