A really practical read on retaining customers in your business is Ian Brooks’ 10 Steps to Becoming Customer Driven. Brooks talks about customer relationship management (CRM) as “not just a marketing initiative or a piece of business software, it is a powerful business strategy. CRM is the way you run your business.”[1]
He says businesses serious about becoming customer driven need to build their entire business strategy towards totally caring for the customer, and changing the behaviours by which the team and therefore the business will carry out this strategy.
Everyone in the organisation, from the CEO to the front-office people to the workers in the storeroom, needs to be customer driven.
Go out of your way to solve the problem
Brooks asks how important is it to retain your customer? Obviously it’s very important. Therefore you need to go out of your way to solve the customer’s problem.
Why then do surveys reveal such shocking customer service statistics in this country, and why, as consumers ourselves, we often feel fobbed off by companies that show lack of compassion, understanding or care?
You need to care very much if your customer has a problem because if you don’t care, they’ll go somewhere else that will. Walk in the customer’s shoes for a change – if they have a problem, it becomes your problem to fix. Help solve the problem, and the customer and you will walk away happy. Strive always for a win-win situation.
A customer-driven organisation involves putting the right systems in place and the right people in place and managing your relationships with customers really well.
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