Danny Pritchard
January 31, 2024
It’s easier to keep existing customers than it is to attract new ones, so we need to ensure we keep these customers happy. Yes, buy them a flat white every so often, treat them to a discount or give some free advice. Keep them coming back for more of that oh-so-good stuff you seem to be putting out.
You might be shaking your head thinking ‘I don’t want to keep offering services for free or discounting my prices’, that’s why there are some easy ways to keep your customers hooked without costing you a cent! First of all (and you should be doing this anyway) provide great customer service; offer a reward program to encourage positive association with your business; or simply reach out via email, phone or social media to stay in touch and show genuine interest in your customer’s lives, not just their business. Remember, if you do reach out, keep it as personal as possible! No one likes receiving a copy and paste message. That’s one sure way to lose clients, and fast!
Keep your products or services better than your competitors by listening to what your customers have to say. Make sure you fix any problems quickly and always offer to find a solution. Building a sense of community around your brand and sharing useful stuff online can help build trust in your business. Bottom line, treat your customers like royalty and they’ll want to stick around like a fly on… well, you know.
You might be shaking your head thinking ‘I don’t want to keep offering services for free or discounting my prices’, that’s why there are some easy ways to keep your customers hooked without costing you a cent! First of all (and you should be doing this anyway) provide great customer service; offer a reward program to encourage positive association with your business; or simply reach out via email, phone or social media to stay in touch and show genuine interest in your customer’s lives, not just their business. Remember, if you do reach out, keep it as personal as possible! No one likes receiving a copy and paste message. That’s one sure way to lose clients, and fast!
Keep your products or services better than your competitors by listening to what your customers have to say. Make sure you fix any problems quickly and always offer to find a solution. Building a sense of community around your brand and sharing useful stuff online can help build trust in your business. Bottom line, treat your customers like royalty and they’ll want to stick around like a fly on… well, you know.
A business owner is like the Captain Cook of the HMS Endeavour, steering the business through the stormy seas of challenges and uncertainties. Employees look up to their leaders for inspiration and guidance. When a business owner actively works on self-improvement they set the standard for the entire team, encouraging a culture of continuous improvement
Ahh, leads, leads, leads. The word every business owner loves to dread. You might want to change your attitude about getting those leads there, Harry, or you’ll lose business. To double your leads, do the ground work. Get out like your employees do and hustle. The hustling doesn’t stop once you start a successful business, if it did, how do you think it stays successful? Talk the talk, walk the walk, and prove you’re the business that customers need!
If you’re not cold calling, start. Pick a nice street and knock like the 5 year old in you once would have during Halloween, maybe they’ll slam it in your face, or maybe they’ll give you their hard earned cash for your services - now that’s a treat.
If no one knows about your business, why would they want to use your services? Start sending outreach emails, get your business on social media and make sure to show your face - people don’t want to deal with robots, it isn’t 2080 yet. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, or be deterred by quieter periods, you’ll miss potential customers if you don’t keep pushing on. You’ll be surprised how far word of mouth alone can reach, so tell everyone you know! There’s a reason they say no press is bad press.
Don’t let leads die, chase them like you’d chase important mail flying off down the road. We don’t mean turning up on the doorstep of old mate Susan who signed up to your mailing list but never interacts with your emails. We mean following up with a welcome email, or a friendly phone call to introduce yourself and retaining interest with emails containing “the good stuff.”
Your goal might be to make a sale, but the initial stage should appear as if it’s just discovery. Like a shoulder to lean on or a confidante ready to solve their problems but waiting until they’ve broken out of that toxic relationship instead of pushing them before they’re ready.
It’s time to get creative in your strategies. The ‘woke’ people know when you’re reading them a script and feeding them through the funnel, they can smell you a mile away. Think about ways to be unique and set your business apart from the rest. Come up with bold and creative calls to action, a funky email sign off rather than the boring old “regards” or “best” (what does that even mean anyway?!), and do some social listening. Find out what your audience’s pain points are and feed those into your strategy, solving their problems along the way without them even realising it.
Analyze your data and pivot your strategies constantly. By analyzing the data you’ll identify bottlenecks in your funnel and be able to tailor them to your audience’s needs. Think about your approach holistically, like we do, how can you make the entire process seamless and appear more inviting to your target audience
How do you increase your ATV? By getting your customers to spend more money with you! It’s time to think about what else you could offer that might compliment your services and make the entire journey more enticing for your customer. We’re not just talking about discounts and loyalty programs, but other services or products you could offer. For example: if you work in photography for a living, maybe you offer some social media management services on the side to complement (and make sure those photos you poured your heart into are being used right); or you could be accountants like us, who also offer bookkeeping, business coaching, and financial advice. Can you bundle your services to make it appear attractive while driving the original sale higher?
Encouraging customers to buy from you more often is actually fairly easy, you’ve just got to provide that good sh** we keep talking about. That top of the line, gold star, Moet service - it’s a service so good that they’d never look elsewhere. Your communication makes their life so easy that it makes them question why they ever did business with anyone else. Impeccable service will without fail, keep them coming back.
Up your game! We don’t mean your pickup lines, we mean your marketing. The more you talk about your business, the more you’re front of mind for your customers. Maybe it’s a new product release to keep things exciting, or a new service offering, whatever it is TALK ABOUT IT. Let your customers know what’s going on for you and what’s coming up. Throw it on a billboard, run it as an ad, pop flyers in mailboxes the old fashioned way - whatever you can do, do it all!
OK before you slam that laptop shut, we’re not talking about charging the customer less. Calm down, Sally. We’re talking about being more efficient in time spent (this is a good one for you, tired business owner). It’s time to outsource and upskill, passing on tasks to other employees, costing you less and freeing up your time to find more leads - bringing in more sales.
Invest in better technology and upgrade your systems. If there’s something a computer can automate for you, you’re on to a big win when it comes to time and money saving. If technology isn’t the route for you, have you thought about fostering your work environment? As much as we’d love to see a room full of puppies, we don’t mean literal fostering. We mean encouraging your employees to be more efficient. Ask your team to provide feedback on your systems and processes and refine, refine, refine until the systems work better for them. Better systems mean better results, improved productivity, less wasted time (and money), and better long term success, and we better mention happier employees too!
It’s time to trim the fat (not the muscle). Your business should be regularly reviewing its operations and processes. Check up on contracts and make changes wherever necessary. Consider embracing a flexible work environment where employees can work from home (thanks Covid), reducing your need for a large office space or huge power bill. Streamline your operations. Automate repetitive tasks. Offer employee training, leading to a skilled workforce which ultimately reduces errors and the need for additional staff (and money wasted in fixing the issues). Lastly, reassess and refine your business model to identify unnecessary expenses and find cost-effective alternatives.
When the world of business is only getting more and more competitive, it’s time to revisit your strategies, adapt and pivot. Make your business stand out from the crowd and get bigger, better wins. Stay ahead of the competition and keep your finger on the pulse with our business updates, helpful tips & tricks, and important insights on our Instagram or LinkedIn.
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