Relationships STILL matter.

So often in our industry, clients come to us laser focused on what we can do to help them drive new business, new clients, and new leads. While driving the “new” does have a place, we must not forget the value of your existing customers.

It has been said that the cost to acquire a new customer is five times more than retaining an existing customer. Not to mention the success rate in selling to an existing customer is 60-70% vs 5-20% in selling to a new customer.

As you can see, the importance of building a relationship with existing customers is more important than ever, especially if you also consider today’s consumer lives in the era of Google placing all the options in the world quite literally at their fingertips. So, what can keep them coming back to you?

RELATIONSHIPS. TRUST. BRAND LOYALTY.
If you trust a brand, know what to expect with a brand, or relate to a brand, you will continue to use it. In fact, one customer experience agency reported that loyal customers are 5x as likely to repurchase, 5x as likely to forgive, 4x as likely to refer, and 7x as likely to try a new offering.

How can you create brand loyalty?

1. Focus on Quality – deliver what you promise every time, and if you don’t, make it right.
2. Provide Value – make your product or service stand out from the rest and give your customers a reason to continue to come back.
3. Engage your consumers – follow up and regularly communicate via social, email or even good old-fashioned snail mail.
4. Show appreciation – thank your consumer with handwritten notes (these make a big impression), birthday cards, holiday greetings, surprise coffee / donuts delivered to their office and the like.

As the old saying goes, “Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver, but the other’s gold.” I challenge you as you look at your marketing budget for 2020 to take some time to determine which of your customers are the silver and which are the gold.