HARDISON’S TIPS – JULY 14, 2021 – BOOSTING CUSTOMER LOYALTY (PT.3)
Why?
Well firstly, from your point of view, if 1 of the larger customers decides to jump ship, you’re likely to take a huge financial hit. Losing 1 of many customers however isn’t anywhere near as big a deal.
Secondly, fish love to talk. Well, they don’t actually, but your customers do. The more customers you have, the faster your reputation as the go-to person in the industry will grow, and having a strong reputation is an important factor in deciding whether customers stay or go.
Just remember the big fish, little fish, cardboard box rule: if the big fish outweigh the little fish, you’re far more likely to be leaving with your things in a cardboard box.
5. Good content = content customers
Sales and marketing are two sides of the same coin. If you don’t work closely with your marketing department, you’re missing a huge trick in using content to keep customers on board for longer. And if you don’t have a marketing team, you absolutely need at least an agency.
Work with your marketing team to create some downloadable guides on key problems your customers are likely to face. Of course, keep it office industry-related, but talk about how companies can be more Green and efficient or can save money on their office supplies.
The reason this can work so well is that salespeople, generally speaking, aren’t great writers, but have strong, inside-knowledge with regards to their industries. The exact opposite can be said of most marketers, who are great at creating content, but don’t work as closely with your customers.
If your products fit the bill and can help to solve a problem, talk about them a little, but don’t push too hard; content should be an educational tool and not a sales pitch. If you try too hard to sell with content, everything you say loses credibility.
If, however, you can use your content to cement yourself as a thought leader in the industry, you seriously boost the loyalty of your customers who will think that there’s no point going elsewhere for their business because you truly know your stuff.
These guides can also, of course, be used as prospecting tools, but, in terms of loyalty, are a great way to show your customers that you know their industries inside-out and think about their problems on a daily basis.
