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I’m always reminded of that Simon and Garfunkel song as the desperation in his words reflect the way we often feel - \"just trying to keep my customers satisfied, satisfied!\" The word keep being the operative word!

Profit is what business is all about. To make that profit we have to focus on the customers. Custom = Profit - and don’t you forget it. It doesn’t matter how fantastic your goods or services are there is always someone else out there copying, improving and selling your goods or your service! The trick is to be innovative and at the same time predictable - an achievable albeit delicate task. Customers are our profit and the aim of the game is to keep them, get them to spend more and get them to spend more often.

We’ve been told often enough that it is so much cheaper to retain a customer than search for a new one. So what are some of the steps we need to take to keep that most valuable asset - the customer.

This article looks at the predictable part - recording and tracking as this is backbone to success. There are numerous ways to do this but lets just look at my top 7.

Customer Profile

Set up a customer profile on your top clients. Gather information and record it. Not just business information, which I am sure you already have but include any personal information that you pick up during the course of your sales. This information can then be used in passing on your next call to the customer and certainly makes them feel that they are valuable to your business. I can always remember as a young mum at home our insurance agent would call 2 or 3 times a year. He would always mention some little piece of information that he had got out of me regarding my family during our previous chat ‘By the way, how long did it take Sam to get over the Chicken pox?’ Note these pieces of information, have the customer profile in front of you next time you talk to them on the phone and bond with your customer! In the rush and hurly burly of this world we all want someone to sit up and take notice!

Create a Database

Once you have the customer profile, make sure it is added to a customer database. This database is what you will base all of your future mail outs on.
My database is separated in client types. I have some clients who focus on training and other purely sales & marketing. You may be able to make similar distinctions in your business.

Create an Annual Call Plan

A ‘call’ is any communication you have with your customer. This could be over the phone or in person. The Call Plan is a system to start recording how many times you will communicate with your customer and how you will communicate. This can be computerised or manual. Often the top 20% of customers are giving you the 80% of your business and they should be called upon at least every 3 months. The remaining 80%, twice a year may be enough. Your annual call plan, if manual will include customer names, months of the year and the type of call.

Of course new customers will be being added all the time and as this is a working document changes and amendments will be made along the way. After a year you will have an awesome tracking system and you will be assured that no customers are slipping through the cracks because of negligence.

Birthday Track