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Have you revisited your customer retention program, lately?

It is a fact that it costs much more to attract new customers than it does to keep existing customers, right?   Each customer interface that occurs over the lifecycle of the customer's business relationship with your organization defines how your organization is perceived and has a major impact on the bottom line. 

As brands become increasingly similar and competition fiercer, keeping and expanding customer relationships depends on the ability to deliver a customer experience tailored to changing customer needs and values and consistent with the brand promise.

Below are a just few of our findings identified through our customer retention best practices research. 

• EXCEEDING customer expectations has MODERATE impact on loyalty.
• Satisfaction DOES NOT predict loyalty.
• Reducing EFFORT has the GREATEST impact on loyalty. 
• Ease of doing business with your company is what keeps your customers loyal.  

• It costs 7-10 times more to recruit a new customer than to keep an existing one.
• A gain in customer loyalty of only 5%  CAN  lift lifetime profits per customer by as much as 95%
• An increase in loyalty of just 2% is, in some sectors, equivalent to a 10% cost reduction.

To survive and even thrive in today's environment, many organizations should take a fresh look at their strategies and methods for retaining customers-and if necessary renew their commitment to the customer. It will take more than a "smile" to retain your customers!  

If you don't see the need to work on your customer touch point design process, maybe it time for a new pair of eyes! And if you are thinking about evaluating these processes, ask for our unbiased help.

Click Here to learn more about our customer touch point audits. 

Our new programs will continue to contain some of the time-honored skills and techniques that you have said are still relevant,

Introducing a New Series of  Customer Service Training Programs!

 but they also contain many newer concepts and best practices that are in tune with today's business environment and workforce. Our training programs are entirely driven by your specific needs and every exercise and skills practice is developed using your organizations business scenarios.  

Be kind to yourself!

1. Smile, be kind to yourself and to others, This simple shift in behavior will help you project a positive attitude and will reduce stress for you and your staff. 
2. Monitor your "internal dialog" Don't be a naysayer and PLEASE don't criticize yourself at every turn!  Push those negative thoughts aside and visualize yourself  "breathing in the positive" and "blowing out the negative".  SMILE - it will make you feel better.
3. Be a consistent leader! Think of those leaders you respect the most, the ones who inspire you. I bet one of the first behaviors you identify in a leader you admire, is their consistent behavior. Consistency in leadership brings people together; they know what to expect, it is a true stress reducer, don't you agree? Consistency builds TRUST and CREDIBILITY. 
4. Be approachable. Don't close yourself off from others.  Be aware of your body language, posture and expressions.  Make people feel comfortable when they approach you.
5. Be an active listener!  Make a DECISION to really listen, and engage in the interaction.  You will be surprised how this one simple step will build your credibility as a manager.   Active listening proves that you are interested and that you are engaged. A side note:  active listening is a skill, if you are not a good listener; take a refresher course and practice the simple steps you can take to become an active listener vs. and attitude listener.    
6. Inspire, motivate, and encourage others.  Your staff looks to you for direction and inspiration. Believe me - they watch and listen to everything you do.  If you are curt or rush people when you're busy, they are going to turn around and treat their co-workers with the same bad attitude and rude behavior.  AND - it can spill over to inter/intra departmental staff and to the CUSTOMER.  Be honest with yourself, if you have lost your inspiration it's time to find it! Re-energize yourself and YOUR team.   It is your responsibility as a leader, right?  
7. Project some enthusiasm! Have some fun at work. Smile. Laugh.  Don't be that person who people are glad didn't come to work today, right????
8. Have an empathetic attitude toward others.  Don't become desensitized, or project an attitude of "who cares?"  I'm not talking about meeting around the camp fire and singing "Kumbaya" ... but you DO need to project an appropriate response to another person's concerns or issues.  This is KEY to becoming a GREAT leader.   
9. Surround yourself with great people!  As a manager, you are responsible for your staff's attitudes and behaviors.  Their actions are a direct reflection on YOUR ability to lead. Be sure you are projecting the right attitude, and your staff will take your lead. 
10. Make time to coach and counsel employees with behavior or attitude issues. This goes for your supervisors as well.  Don't allow your management team to tell you they don't have the time - it goes with the leadership responsibilities. They need to make the time - period.  Hopefully, their creativity and good problem solving skills are one of the reasons they were promoted to management in the first place. And yes, coaching helps you keep a more professional positive, team! 
11. Don't accept negative attitudes in your department (or for that matter, in your life!)   Negative, unhappy, disgruntled people dramatically effect employee morale.  You can't expect the rest of the department to just "live with" and accept the negativity everyday.  It will wear them down and your whole department's productivity, performance, and reputation will be negatively impacted. 
12. Think good thoughts - Don't stew in negativity. Yes it truly is that easy.  You control your mood, so make it a positive one!  Dr Robert Schuller, one of the most famous motivational speakers of all time, said, "you are what you think about all day long."  If you're thinking positive thoughts and reflecting a positive attitude, you'll have the energy to do your job to the very best of your ability.  Negative attitudes are emotionally draining and are of no value.  As a manager, your time is valuable, so don't waste even a moment of it on negative thoughts and emotions!  

Check out these two powerful workshops:

Introduction to Emotional Intelligence

Adapting Your Leadership Style to Become and Effective Leader