A business could sometimes be really tricky. The ever dynamic nature of operations and profitability realities means that not everything goes according to plan sometimes. Even the best of strategies have been known to depend on some laid down principles and also, to have some percentages or probabilities of uncertainty and failure.
Sure, you might thing that you have all the angles covered and that everything is going on well at the moment; You have a presentable and highly efficient staff constituting your workforce, your customer service officers are friendly, warm and welcoming and your products and services are receiving rave ratings and reviews. You might have a store with a ‘staying in business’ type of vibe and your business seems here to stay and poised to make outrageous levels of profits, through efficient marketing techniques and the highly competitive prices of your products. However, all these might still not be enough to seal the deal and ensure that your business steadily steers down the path to growth and sustained profitability levels.
Are you on Mistake?
A common mistake that businesses make is their belief in the fact that the emergence of new customers automatically translates to business growth. Most times, businesses record new customers and have troubles retaining old ones. They end up not being worried (after all, they’ve still got a steady influx of new customers, right?) and just keep plodding along. However, this move could prove to be catastrophic to your business (I mean, what happens if your steady newcomers don’t become so steady anymore?). Getting constant newcomers and having problems with retaining old ones simply implies that you’re offering products and services that satisfy the short term needs of your customers. In the long run, they’ll leave you and search for greener pastures.
Every corporation and business should be able to properly mark the distinction between customer satisfaction and business growth. The failure to do so could lead to potentially business collapsing consequences in the nearest future.
Customer Satisfaction is Key
Business growth is a goal that is much harder to achieve than customer satisfaction. With customer satisfaction, you are sure of meeting your customers’ needs at the moment and nothing more. However, business growth is a concept that relies strongly on customer loyalty. Customer loyalty basically means that you have customers who will continue to patronize you and contribute to the profitability of your business, no matter what and let come what may. It should go without saying that customer loyalty is more desirable than customer satisfaction. Customer loyalty largely involves customers who are willing to stick with you and who are concerned about the progress and continuity of your business.
Customer Loyalty with Emotion
In order to gain customer loyalty, a little bit of emotion is actually required. This is what actually makes them stay and what guarantees that they won’t just jump on the next train or rave of the moment that comes their way. You have to effectively penetrate their emotions and make them see why they really need (or want; whichever works for you) what you’re offering. It focuses on constantly surprising your customer and exceeding their expectations.
In order to increase customer loyalty rates, you should know the form of advertising you’re going t employ and also be familiar with its risks and advantages. An appropriate marketing strategy is one which can communicate effectively with your customers in a two-way manner; you speak, they respond.
Questionnaires and Discussion
It’s easy to keep track of your customer satisfaction rates. Through questionnaires, online polls, discussion boards and other forms of interaction, businesses can actually measure the rate at which their customers are satisfied and through that, they can work on their processes and improve on their service delivery. However, customer loyalty is what really drives the growth of a business. Business growth requires consistency and continuity and the loyalty of your customers (both old and new) is what is going to spur that. You can trust a satisfied customer to call back from time to time. However, a loyal customer is one who you can count on to always visit and patronize.
Also, customer loyalty rests on your accuracy regarding important aspects of your customers’ business usage. When your customers decide to communicate with you through a social media platform and you are unable to pin-point where these customers are coming from and offer solutions based on the inference gotten from their opinions or questions, you’re not really in a good place to assure customer loyalty.
