05 July 2015
It costs twelve times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, and even when you do get new customers, it takes time before they ramp up on spending. As a result, long-term customers spend 67% or more than new ones.
In short, it pays to go the extra mile to retain customers. Here are five tips how.
Engage, Engage, Engage
Never put loyal long-term customers on auto pilot. Find reasons to talk to them. Engage proactively. Find out their wish-lists. Ask them what you can do to make your services better. Then act on it.
But First, Know Your Customers Well
Invest in a
good, industry specific CRM and track your customers in fine detail. Tag their requests and the next time they come in for the same service, remember these preferences.
Listen Everyday
Be on the same social platforms as your customers. Find out their birthdays, anniversaries and other socially significant events. Then greet them. About once in ten conversations, request referrals, or try upsells. Take special care to keep the marketing low key. Every time you get results, reward customers generously.
Train your Staff for Customer Centricity
Let your staff know that your business is all about customers, and not just selling and servicing vehicles. Train them to value loyal customers. Encourage staff to build good one-on-one relationships and own customers. Build bigger incentives around customer retention.
Design a Formal Loyalty Program
Once your CRM has enough customer information to detect significant patterns, design formal customer loyalty programs around it.
For instance, if customers have a propensity to leave after four paid services, structure your monetary model to make the fifth one free. Then measure their behavior.
Build funnels around high spending events. For example a free checkup camp for older vehicles, timed around relatively slack days, may uncover big repair needs and help fill in the empty slots in your workshop.
Measure every customer loyalty initiative with your
dealer CRM. Repeat the ones that deliver significant results.