How Do You Hold Onto Your Customers?

An important function of the sales role as taught on good sales training courses is customer retention.

To retain customers and deepen your relationship with them you should ensure the company has a firm customer bonding policy. Do not make the mistake of letting one area go. Prepare yourself for two different dangers. 

Either of the two dangers is enough to lose a customer. A more attractive offer from a competitor, promising them more than your own offer, will entice them even if they are satisfied with your service. However enticing your offer might be, the customer will not buy from you if they are unhappy with you. So, develop strategies against both dangers and employ them concurrently.

You need to guarantee that the least interruption in your relationship with the customer is corrected. Trying to compensate in a different area will not work, as a shortage in one place cannot be made good by excess in another. Just as you cannot satisfy a thirsty person with chocolate.

How do you avoid infuriating your customers?

You can avoid your customers from becoming annoyed if you and your staff live up to their expectations. They have expectations on both relationship and material levels.

Relationship expectations

If there is anything erroneous in the relationship between you and your customer, they will easily find a stick to beat you with. So first and foremost pay attention that the partnership is in order.

What can you do to encourage the relationship? There are three areas overall where your customer expects something from you:

Keep your promises

Keep to the dates you have named.
Ring back when the customer asks you to.
Send any documentation you promised to them immediately.
Pass on messages that they leave to the appropriate office immediately.

Get your immediate colleagues to share the same approach.

The customer expects to be taken seriously
Do not correct or lecture them.
Be Knowledgeable with being a know-all.
Recognize their expertise.
Do not mortify or show them up.

Behave in a way, which shows your customer you respect them. They are your partner, after all, and should remain so.

Be as proficient as your customer expects you to be

Continue educating yourself so you are better than the competition.
Learn at home too.
Attend sales training courses.
Read specialist literature.
Pay attention to lectures.
Whenever you have the opportunity to train take it.
Learn from other people and their mistakes.
Nurture your strengths.
Ask your colleagues when you do not know what to do in order to help you improve.

Raise your proficiency level until you are the paramount expert provide the same opportunity for your office staff. Encourage them to increase their own knowledge.

Material expectations

The best relationships in the world are not worth a damn if the material expectations of your customer are not fulfilled.

You can prove to your customer that your goods and services are more than fulfilling their expectations by fulfilling the following four areas. These will show them that you are clearly better than your competitors.

The customer expects the product/service to live up to your promises

Take care of this yourself.
Make enquiries of the customer service department.
Point out to the customer the penalty of incorrect handling.
Make suggestions for improvements.
Ensure you customer service know their duties.

Give the greatest help at first

Offer your customer a complete introduction.
Ask if there is anything they have not understood.
Let them practice by themselves.
Enquire whether everything works.
Recommend a specialised training course they may wish to attend.

Offer your customer recommendations on application

Give more tips than are contained in the operating instructions.
Show the customer possibilities that you have learnt from other users.
Continue giving useful tips, even after quite some time.
Pick up their ideas.


Be the first correct any mistakes

Respond immediately to calls for help.
When you are unavailable such as evenings and weekends arrange cover.
Send help immediately, if you can.
The customer also pays more for express support.

By implementing these points you guarantee that you are making the necessary effort to retain your customers. Experience has repeatedly proven that carrying out these actions, which are covered on good sales training courses, has a positive effect on customer retention.

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