Every day we hear about the state of our economy and we increasingly hear about job losses and businesses going to the wall. If you listened to this then it is easy to convince yourself that your organisation may go the same way.
Indeed you may be tempted to cut your marketing spend, which has been the trend in previous downturns, but is exactly what you should not do. Instead you need to be smart with your marketing money to get ahead. If you think about any recession in history there are always winners, and they are the ones who invest wisely…
Keep your customers close…
To end up on the winning side, you need to start looking at your organisation from a different angle – From your customer’s perspective.
To recruit a new customer is six times more expensive than keeping an existing one, so you need to keep your customers close…how?
Answer - the simple art of two way communication. This is the key to building strong relationships with your clients. Whether it is over the phone, ezines or newsletters where you add value to your relationship (not simply selling to them), or face to face; this two way communication is a vital ingredient to building a lasting relationship.
Ask yourself whether you know what your customers’ think of you? Most organisations don’t know and assume that silent customers are happy customers. Most also assume that their customers know about their whole product/service range and finally, they assume that customers will be back. Of course none of this is true. Many will simply walk away in silence and you’ll never know.
By communicating you’ll learn so much about what you are doing right and also what business you are missing out on. For instance, do you cater for your customers’ needs and/or wants? Are you missing out on vital sales because your customers want something that you have failed to recognise or more often that they did not know you provided the product/service?
For most businesses, marketing is now about keeping their current customers on-board, supplying them with as many of their needs and wants as possible and at a price that is a win-win for both parties.
Your challenge, if you wish to accept it over the next 100 days, is to ask your customers for feedback. One way to do this is to agree that one morning a week you will call 10 of your customers before 10am. Ask them how they are, what they are doing and what their challenges are. Just listen – You will be amazed by what they tell you that will help you in your business and possibly inspire you to look at other opportunities.
The challenge is yours – over to you…
Haybury Marketing are specialists in coaching small and medium sized business organisations in accountable, measurable marketing techniques. To find out more call 08450 757 756, email info@hayburymarketing.com or visit www.hayburymarketing.com for free marketing hints and tips.
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