Speaking of actions and efforts, it is no accident that you are reading this article. If you have this showing on your screen, I know what keeps us both up some nights. Here is some great advice for us all.
You have seen this happen, haven't you? As you focus on obtaining additional customers, the ones you have are leaking out the back door. The lifeblood of any business is not just growth. I have experienced that it is actually twofold: obtaining new customers while retaining current ones. Are you so completely focused on acquiring new customers, that your current current customers receive less than your best, and slip out the back door and across the street (or across town) directly to your competition?
How can you stop this? Here is one very promising idea:
You.
Statistics say that there are many reasons customers do not return to a place of business. This list sites that 4% move away; 5% leave to try something new; 9% leave you for your competition; 14% leave disgruntled with your service, and an overwhelming 68% of your customers leave you because they encounter an attitude of indifference (meaning your customers felt that you did not care if they stayed with you or not).
While these figures are represented as percentages, the real truth is that these percentages translate into dollars. Your customers have chosen you as a good reason to part with their money. We must never forget that customers are always free to choose, and just as they chose your salon, they will choose another salon if your service is not up to par. The solution? Superior customer service is a factor that YOU control.
What is superior customer service? Simply, it is the kind of service you would like to receive. And don't forget, this kind of marketing is free if you do it, and costly if you don’t.
What will distinguish you from your competition? What makes your business irresistible? What keeps your best customers speaking highly of you and coming back forever?
Many salons implement actions or services that positively impact or impress your customers. They step it up the first time they see a new customer, and then tend to allow these WOW factors to fall by the wayside. Stop this. Superior customer service is consistent - from the first visit to the twentieth visit to the one hundredth visit.
When you FOCUS on your gracious words and the ability to deliver the service your customer came for will greatly increase your odds of that client coming back and even better, bringing someone with them next time too.
(***Don't forget to include a request for referrals on the bottom of each email SCHEDULE'em sends out for you. Its a no brainer that our subscribers have reported an amazing influx of new referrals since they started using our software!)
Don't forget to radiate the kind of customer service
you would want to receive
for every customer, every visit.
