4 Tips To Hold On to Your Small Business’s Most Valuable Customers

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Blog Written By: Elena Stewart – a certified life coach specializing in career guidance to achieve your goals.

As a small business owner, where do you focus the majority of your attention when it comes to marketing your products and services? If your answer involves getting the attention of consumers who have not yet benefited from your merchandise, you may not see as great of a return on your investment as you could. Studies show that it is your current patrons, not the new ones, who spend the most money at your establishment. Therefore, you should make the effort to earn the loyalty of your repeat customers. Follow these tips, presented to you by business consultant Dr. Charlie Chi, to help your small business win over — and keep — customers.

Save Time for Customer Interactions

Dedicating time to answering your clients’ calls and engaging them in conversation is critical to the success of customer relationships. This is especially true for e-commerce businesses or companies that handle a lot of online sales. In order to make these connections, however, you must reduce the amount of time spent elsewhere. Forming a limited liability company is one smart way to save valuable time. LLCs have a number of advantages, including simplified accounting responsibilities and less paperwork. You can even hire a freelancer to research the regulations in California and take care of the formation process. Independent contractors may come in handy in other ways, as well, including helping with accounting, answering calls, managing search engine optimization strategies, and even providing valuable business and life coaching.

Post Consistent Updates

In a time where consumers expect to access information within seconds, it’s essential that companies develop a strong online presence. Social media offers an optimal way of accomplishing this. On social networking platforms, your company can communicate with consumers who are already interested in your merchandise. This way, you focus your communications on the group that is most likely to respond positively. Additionally, social media makes it possible to form a community around your products and services so repeat customers feel they know, trust, and are even a part of your business and its mission

Provide Useful Information

Experts hold that content marketing has become a central component of effective customer relationships. Your patrons want to visit your site or check out your social media pages and be met with articles that are practical and helpful. Creating a blog is a great way of doing this. SmallBizDaily notes that one of the biggest perks of blogging is that it builds trust and draws people to your site. When your content demonstrates in-depth knowledge about a certain subject matter, consumers are more likely to choose your company over others. On top of that, placing your blog on external sites may allow you to make money as people view it.

Develop A Rewards Program

Incentive Solutions points out that experienced business people assert that rewards programs really do work. For one thing, they boost your number of sales by providing people with incentives to make more purchases. Perhaps even more importantly, these systems show your patrons that you value their business. Points programs, for instance, function well for a wide range of business models. This system works by allowing customers to accumulate points based on their purchases. After reaching a certain total, they may then be able to receive a free item. Free samples are certainly effective at increasing sales, and rewards likely work in much the same way.

While thinking through logistics, solving problems, and punching numbers are important to run a successful business, they cannot replace quality customer interactions. Consider how your company could better allocate its time and efforts to earning the loyalty of its current customers.