Jeffrey Wire

Jeffrey Wire

Fixed Right First Time Specialist at Volkswagen Group of America

Published Apr 26, 2016

While I'm sure there are parts of the country where people go to bed and don't have to lock their doors at night. I'm also pretty sure most people do. It just makes sense, doesn't it? Even though you live in a pretty safe place, why take a chance?

It's the same with your customers. Even though you're probably pretty sure your customers will remain your customers, why take the chance?

I posed this same question to a business owner the other day, because we were talking about customer retention. He believes that customer retention is not an active process, that it happens because customers are happy, or get a great value from doing business with him. I say, customer retention is the responsibility of every person, place or thing the customer interacts with, when doing business with you.

If you have a great product, or create tremendous value for your customers, but they can't make an appointment easily with you, isn't this is a potential problem? If you have to send a customer to do business with a vendor of yours, and the experience isn't pleasant, doesn't it reflects poorly on your business? We mystery shop our own businesses, but have you ever mystery shopped one of your vendors? What about your bookkeeping department? Have you ever mystery shopped them? Why, you ask?

Suppose there's extensive paperwork in what you sell? Suppose, your customer is due a refund or they owe some additional fee? Wouldn't you want to know that the person contacting your customer, shared the same values about customer retention that you do? Wouldn't you want them to know how much a customer is worth to your business, as long as they remain a customer?

I'm sure everyone reading this, can site an example of a time, when the experience or expectation of how something should go, is much different than what really happened. I'll give you a personal example.

Many years ago, when I was working in a dealership as the wholesale parts manager, I secured the business of a customer that brought in a lot of parts sales. They applied for and were given a line of credit. After about 6 months into the relationship, the owner called me and told me he was terminating the business relationship. When I asked him why, he told me his staff was done dealing with the rude people in our office? When I asked him to elaborate, he told me that for the last 3 months, someone in our office was calling him weekly to find out when we were going to be paid, and not in a polite manner. He explained that we would get all our money, but that sometimes, especially on larger repairs, it may be after the 15th of the month before we were paid, but that we would always be paid by the end of the following month.

Now, obviously I see both sides of this situation. The office wanted the money and the business owner wanted his parts. My point in telling this story, is that both sides wanted something they could have had, but because the office handled it poorly, neither side got it.

But, in my opinion, it hurt us more. Getting and keeping customers is what we need to do in business everyday. It needs to be the most important part of everyone's job in whatever business they're in. Work in the office? Focus every interaction with your customer on making sure they remain your customer. Work in sales? Focus your attention on making sure the other sales persons customers have a pleasant experience. Answer the phones? The receptionist position, in my opinion, is one of the most, if not the most, important position in any business. How that phone gets handled, is critical to getting and keeping customers. The CEO is important, sales people are important, the bookkeepers are important, but if the receptionist is rude and can't get people to visit your business, the other people in your business won't have much to do. The same thing with your website. It may be effective in getting people to come to your business, but once they're there, if you don't handle things properly, think they'll be back?

 Action Ideas for Improving Customer Retention:

• Look Inside First - Mystery shop all departments and find out how your customers are treated. Ask your employees what types of experiences other businesses have provided to them and how they could have been treated better. Build a journal of experiences and use this feedback internally to improve your business.
• Then Look Outside - Examine the routine things your business does, from answering the phone to delivering your product and find ways to improve or innovate. Ask your customers, how their experience could have been better. Dominos Pizza for example, discovered by asking, that getting a pizza delivered while it was still hot, was an industry problem. This prompted them to innovate and develop the Dominos guarantee "Hot, Fresh pizza, delivered in 30 minutes or less, or it's FREE". I'm not suggesting that FREE is always the answer, but you won't know what the solution needs to be, until you know what the problem is.
• Find ways to communicate better with your customers. Not just try to sell them something. Use newsletters, birthday cards, anniversary cards, have contests, hold focus groups, have a rewards program, have a picnic for them. There are all kinds of ways to improve your relationship with your customers. You just have to get to doing it, instead of talking about it.

Getting an keeping customers is your company's and employees responsibility. You can have help, but when you lay your head down on your pillow at night, make sure you've locked all your doors and make sure you've locked up your customers too.

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