The entire process of gauging customer satisfaction, and improving and leveraging it is a daunting one for businesses and may seem too tedious to accomplish. However, the benefits offered by leveraged customers are countless and businesses simply cannot afford to overlook them. Therefore, when setting out to leverage customer satisfaction, the first most-important step is to ask the customer certain well-directed questions:

• “What is it about our business that appeals to you?” or
• “Would you recommend us to others? Why?”

The answers to such questions, which should generally be either positive or negative, help businesses identify their own strengths and weaknesses. This way, the business ensures that its customers actively participate in its overall wellbeing, and contribute towards its success. Leveraging customer relationships usually involves the following important considerations:

Being open to complements as well as criticism – Regardless of the nature of a business or the industry it operates in, the feedback and opinion of customers is crucial to their long-term success. Customers can provide businesses with first-hand knowledge of the inherent defects in a product service, allowing timely revisions. Therefore, businesses need to actively engage themselves in listening to what the customer has to say to them.

Encourage conversations – Quite understandably, customers would barely be expected to take out time to visit the business with complaints and feedback. It is therefore the duty of the business to pursue customers and engage them in conversations so that their valuable input can be acquired. This also helps them build healthy long-term relationships for the future.

Reciprocate – When leveraging customer relationships, it is as important to reciprocate the goodwill of customers. Hence, businesses can reward their customers with incentives, gifts and monetary benefits as a sign of appreciation for how much they are valued by customers. Moreover, gifts can also work to retain the interest of unhappy clients in the business, even though for a short time.

Maintain contact – When a channel of healthy communication has been established with a customer, essential contact details may be requested of them to ensure that the business has the chance to get back to them with positive outcomes and makeovers. The one thing that a customer appreciates most about a business is that they listen to them and act!

See Opportunity – In this age of industrialization where business growth is restricted by competitive market pricing and widespread product distribution, customers can become the most valuable strategic advantage for businesses. Establishing positive customer relationships can become one of the hallmarks of a business in the market, which in turn helps the business attract more customers.

On a recent road trip with my son and future daughter-in-law, traffic on the highway came to a complete stop thirty minutes into our 3 ½ -hour drive. Not knowing what lay ahead, I was instantly reminded of the time it took me 14 hours to drive to Chicago after a snowstorm, normally a 5-hour trip! I still cringe every time I think about it… the discomfort, the stress, the feeling of helplessness, and the disappointment over all the missed appointments and opportunities. Luckily, my quick-thinking and a bit impatient son, who was listening to the traffic report, quickly maneuvered the car into the exit lane and took an alternate route. In no time at all, we were back on-track and actually arrived at our destination a little ahead of schedule. It was painless and we didn’t miss a thing.

It’s too bad the people in all those other cars weren’t listening to the traffic report. They would probably be delayed, and were likely to miss something special. They too, could have maneuvered around the accident and arrived ahead of schedule like us. Catching up on some work-related reading in the backseat, our little glitch in the road got me thinking… customer advisory councils are a lot like that traffic report! They provide insight to what lies ahead. 

If you’re planning a road trip and want to know what condition the roads are in, tune in to your local traffic report. You will learn where to expect slow-downs due to construction. You will discover where caution is needed due to ice and snow. You will find out which roads should be avoided altogether due to accidents. You will realize that an alternate route may be necessary, and which one will get you to your destination more quickly. You will get a glimpse into what lies ahead so you can anticipate and plan accordingly.

Likewise, when navigating the road to success for your organization. Tune in to your customer advisory council and gain insight to customer challenges, industry trends, and product development! 

• Learn what to expect from the market.
• Discover where caution is needed or where speed is of the essence in developing new products.
• Find out what new programs and services are needed or what should be avoided altogether.
• Realize that a different perspective or strategy may be needed or that another way or doing things may work better.
• Discover how to achieve differentiation.
• Anticipate the future and plan accordingly.

Take my advice. Tune in to your “traffic report.” Learn what to expect and what lies ahead. Prepare for the open road, congestion, and potential detours. Avoid the stress and disappointment of missed opportunities. Anticipate an alternate route and you may actually arrive ahead of schedule like we did. Tune in. It’s painless and you won’t miss a thing!

The phrase ‘customer loyalty’ is strictly a marketing term that defines the inclination of a customer to choose a particular business, product or service over other available options. Brand loyalty starts when choices are made by customers and action is taken.

What is a Customer Loyalty Program?

Customer Loyalty Programs are specially structured marketing strategies focused primarily on directing consumer behavior in a target market. The program itself focuses on rewarding and encouraging loyalty among long-standing and relatively new customers of the business.

What are Benefits of Customer Loyalty Programs?

Customer Loyalty Programs are essentially the key to an organization’s long-term success. It benefits the business by aiding it to excel in the following dimensions:

• Innovation in design of products including service products
• Operational and executive excellence
• Conformance to changing market trends
• Adaptability to evolving consumer behavior

What are B2B Customer Loyalty Programs?

Many businesses devise reward programs that are aimed at encouraging customer loyalty. The major challenge that businesses face when devising an effective customer loyalty program is that of researching the key elements that drive customer loyalty. In the B2B World examples of Loyalty programs are Customer Advisory Councils or Boards (CAC) and Executive Sponsor Programs.

This week in Orlando, Kim Hammond (from QTS) and I had the opportunity to present at the Loyalty 360 Engagement Expo.  The audience was highly engaged as we talked about some of the common challenges organizations face Achieving Client Advocacy in the B2B World.  The top five challenges discussed were:

1)       Being focused on the wrong customers

2)       Being focused on the wrong level within accounts

3)       Disproportionate marketing spend

4)       Retention

5)       Profitable growth

As we shared there, building true advocacy comes from engaging your most important accounts at the decision-maker level in a meaningful way.  Market leaders must consider the opportunity of shifting their marketing spend to 60% on retention and 40% on acquisition.  In most organization, the reverse is the case.  In addition, investing 35% at the decision-maker level of the most important accounts will provide marketing leaders the desired retention and profitable growth.

I was energized by Loyalty’s research that came out in 2012 for marketers.  Their research shows the top two objectives for marketers in 2012 are, 1) customer retention, and 2) profitable revenue.  This reinforces what the IBM CEO and Fournaise Marketing Group studies said, which basically came down to marketing leaders need to be focused on the business, not the brand.  They need to focus on building the ROI if they want to earn a true seat at the C-suite table.

Cheers to a sustainable, predictable and profitable 2012 for all marketing leaders!

What is Account Retention?

Customer Retention is the measure that businesses adopt to tackle customer defections. The entire process of customer retention has no defined period as it starts with the business establishing a contact with a customer and continues throughout the span of the relationship. Attracting and retaining new customers does not simply relate to a business’ products and services. A lot depends also on the manner in which it serves its existing clientele and the reputation it has maintained in the market.

Why is Account Retention Important?

When you try to replace an account that you have already lost, you waste crucial time and resources while resolutely eating away your profit margin. It is evident from most examples of trying to rebuild lost accounts that the process costs at least ten times more, as newer clients require a lot more resources and attention. When you build a following of loyal customers you get revenue that you can depend on to keep your company’s cash flow afloat while also maintaining your financial integrity.

The Key to Account Retention

The key to account retention is customer satisfaction. The best way to keep accounts is to make sure that you provide personal attention to your customers, provide quality customer service and take criticism and complains in their stride. Your reaction to a problem presented by a customer is the key to determining whether they will stick around or not. You should have the skills to appropriate the sort of reaction that enables your customers to see that you have their best interests at heart.

Customer satisfaction is established through frequent communication. One of the best strategic tools to establish account retention is through a Customer Advisory Board. You have to keep your client up to speed about any steps that you are taking that directly influences them and inform them of the process that you are making on their problems to maintain account retention. Keeping your clients informed reminds them about the significance of their company and the integral role it plays moving forward which ultimately builds strong account retention.