Tom Feltenstein

One of the funniest movies I’ve seen is My Big Fat Greek Wedding. One scene in particular stands out. When the daughter, Toula, tells her father she wants to go to college, he looks at her and cries, “Why you want to leave me?” Today many business owners find themselves spouting the same words to their customers. Customer loyalty is a major concern because without repeat business, you will never grow. The most precious asset a business has is its current customer base and it takes a great deal of time and energy to cultivate those relationships so when they leave, it hurts. On average, it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing customer. It is important to have in place a solid customer retention strategy, but far too often these strategies aren’t proactive enough to prevent the loss of customers.

In order to take action you must first be able to see the early warning signs. Take a look at your current customers, are they acting differently? Has the regular customer who eats lunch at your restaurant, three times a week only been in once or twice this month?  Are there people who used to come in your store or shop very regularly that you haven’t seen in months? If so you need some answers and quickly.  Setting up ongoing customer feedback systems and “listening posts” throughout your organization will enable you to spot unfavorable trends so that you can take action to reverse such patterns before it is too late.

When one of these long lost customers reappears, offer them a discount coupon or free gift and thank them for being your customer. Sometimes that’s all it takes to draw them back in. You might also tell them that you are evaluating different areas of your business and ask if they can offer some suggestions on things that might be changed or improved. Often this is the only opening they need to let you know the real reason they haven’t been around much. Once you know the real problems you can address them. How do you retain your long time customers?

For literally decades I’ve heard everyone from CEOs to media experts talk about the fact that any publicity is good publicity.  Their misguided premise is built on the idea that as long as your name is in the news, and it doesn’t cost you anything, that it helps your business. Not only is this not true, the wrong kind of publicity can have devastating effects on your brand and your bottom line. Look at the recent problems Toyota has had with cars accelerating unexpectedly. While it is true that the issue has become an international media frenzy, it has also devastated the positive and superior brand that Toyota spent most of the last century building.

A year ago if I’d asked you what you thought of Toyota cars you might have used words or phrases such as: reliable, well-built, or great resale value. But what you would say today? If I offered to let you test drive a Prius or Camry right now, would you hop in the driver’s seat or would you think twice? Now think about the fact that the negative news stories about Toyota didn’t really start in earnest until the Federal Government recall in January of this year. What took almost a century to build has been devastated by bad publicity in a short three months.

Don’t let this happen to your brand! It takes a great deal of time and energy to build and sustain a company image and you must fiercely protect it from issues and problems before they garner unwanted media attention. This includes handling issues right up front and ensuring that your relationship with your customers is maintained. If customers perceive for one second that they are your last concern, then your business will soon be six feet under and the media will be all too happy to shovel dirt on the grave.

In our digital age, marketers must continue to make personal connections with their customers, even though technology can seduce us into distancing ourselves from one another.  If used properly, technology allows us to engage in a more dynamic dialogue with our customers, and to stop interrupting them.  It lets us be available to our customer whenever she needs us, in the way that she needs us, and in the language that she understands.

While my philosophy is very “local,” the basic tenets apply globally towards any industry, including high-tech.  We’ve all got to figure out a way to break through the clutter and to allow our customers to invite us in to speak to them. The days of shouting and interrupting customers are over. Use technology as a tactic to touch your customer and speak to them in a way they understand.

The 21^st century neighborhood is wherever you customers congregate – individuals with similar interests, with similar needs and desires, attitudes, beliefs and values. You can find them in your own block or across an ocean. You can invite them to participate in your blogs and on your Facebook pages. You can find them in churches, schools, libraries, fund raising events, your local chamber of commerce, or in chat groups, phone books, forums… and through other companies who have already found them. But most importantly, and most effectively – you can find them through your present customers.

I’ve always said that your business works the same way your brain works. The single largest detriment is that we fall in love with our product or service. Just for a month I invite you to fall in love with your customer. Look at your business as if you were a customer, think of the interests, values, needs and priorities of your customers – and then you’ll begin to find them. Use your technology to listen to your customers and to find out how you can best fulfill their needs. Devote your life and your enterprise to making their life better, richer, fuller, happier, more meaningful – and the marketing strategies and tactics will begin to unfold from their own lips.