Monday, July 12, 2010

Customer Relationship Management Methods

Marketing Techniques by Association to Increase Customer Retention

Dec 6, 2009 James Clausen

In order to have a high level of customer retention, the customers must be happy with the level of satisfaction they receive with the company’s ability to meet or exceed their needs. Besides meeting or exceeding their needs, an important aspect of customer satisfaction is perception. If the customer perceives that a company truly cares about their needs, they will continue to patronize a business.

Customer Relationship Management by Walking Around

Managers that walk around talking to customers are a great way to create a perception that the company really cares. It’s also a great way to follow up to ensure that customers are happy with the service they receive. Managers that continuously mingle with the customers also have a better understanding of the customer’s perception of their company. This commitment to good customer relations, by management waking around, also reflects on the employees and helps strengthen the company’s resolve to maintain customer satisfaction.

Customer Relationships and the Ten-Foot Rule

Managers that mingle with the customers are only part of the equation for association marketing. The client should also perceive that the company is customer friendly. After all, perception is often reality. That’s why it’s important that every employee, from the janitor to top management, should be trained in customer handling. The following rule is a good start to get all employees on board.

The Ten-Foot Rule

Any employee within ten feet of a customer will acknowledge their presence.
The employee will acknowledge the customer with a standard greeting like “good morning.”
If the customer asks for a specific person, item or directions the employee will personally escort the customer to that person, item or location within the company.

Customer Retention by Exceeding Expectations

Giving a customer what they expect is one thing, exceeding their expectations puts the company in a whole different level in the eyes of the customer. For example if a customer asks for directions, their expectation is that the employee will tell them where to go. If the employee actually takes extra time to personally direct take them to their location, the customer's expectations were exceeded.

One method of exceeding expectations is to create WOW factors. Often they can just be little things, like the above example. Incorporating these factors into association marketing techniques like the ten-foot rule can help to elevate the company to a higher level of customer satisfaction and retention. It’s often the little things that make the difference between an average and superior business.

Unhappy customers are like a double-edged sword. Besides the fact that they may never return, there’s a good chance they will create negative word of mouth advertising. Maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction will not only create customer for life but will bring in other clients through word of mouth. Besides management by walking around, creating surveys can give more in-depth analyses of the company’s perception in the eyes of the customer.

Customer Management System