The most common mistake that small businesses make is constantly seeking new customers.
That isn’t where the money is.
In our experience, the single biggest impediment to Business Owner marketing success is their mind set. A lot of Business Owners think of their business as individual transactions. They get hyper-focused on the idea that they need new customers, when what they need are long term recurring transactions – or loyal, repeat guests.
That’s where the money is.
All your money is made on repeat transactions.
The best way to increase your sales is to focus on moving your
one-time transactions into long-term repeat customers and up your Profit Pyramid.
• Restaurants: Est. Lifetime Value of a Rewards Member over 5 years – $3,656.38
The Value Of Retention
Customer retention is critical for the success of your businesses for several reasons:
- Cost-effectiveness: Acquiring new customers is much more expensive than retaining existing ones. Keeping your existing customers means you spend less on marketing and make more in sales.
- Higher lifetime value: Repeat customers spend more money over time than new customers.
- Word-of-mouth marketing: Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend a business to their friends and family, which can lead to new customers without any additional marketing costs.
- Improved customer feedback: Repeat customers are more likely to provide feedback and suggestions to improve the business. They are also more likely to give positive online reviews (all you have to do is ask!). This information is SUPER valuable! It can be used to improve your products or services and enhance your customer’s experience in your business. And the more positive reviews you get, the higher you move up in online review ranks.
How Does This Impact Your Marketing Decisions?
When new customers come into your business, you need a system in place to bring them back again and again… and refer their friends. Your marketing needs to build a relationship with your customers, so they move up your profit pyramid.
The Goal Of Marketing Is To Create Longevity
You need to be capturing contact info from every customer who visits your business. Once you know who your customers are, you can communicate with them.
Start with weekly emails, a welcome to your loyalty program, and a special gift on their birthday. The more you communicate value to them, the stronger the connection you will build.
Unfortunately, you are not on your customers’ minds all the time – they need reminding. They get busy, they forget about you, they get lured by a competitor – the only way to combat this is to keep in constant communication so your business is the first one they think of.
Which is why you need to it’s important to use a multi-media approach – email, text notifications, apps, social media. Wherever your customer gets their information from, that’s where you want your message to be!
Customer retention is essential to the long-term success of your businesses. By retaining customers, you can reduce costs, increase revenue, and improve the overall customer experience, which can lead to a positive reputation and more growth.
If you want to put all your marketing on autopilot so that you have all these tools working for you, take us up on our offer of a Free 90 Day Trial. You will see results in 90 days.