How to Ensure Customer Loyalty, For Life!

The era when companies would strive to make customers buy their products and services is part of history now. These days, the actual sale is just the beginning of a potential life-time relationship with every new customer. The transformation from selling being seen as an "end" to a "beginning" has been difficult for organisations around the world - but overall, this way of thinking has resulted in a far better experience for customers everywhere.

Once organisations began to discover new ways to keep their businesses growing, they also realised that follow-up and after sales service can be incredibly influential methods for ensuring customer loyalty. Keeping detailed records of customers and providing simple courtesies, such as sending a "thank you" or a "birthday card" have become commonplace in business. These gestures generally strike a chord with customers and give them a feeling of belongingness. Therefore, it's no wonder that this particular tactic has become so incredibly successful. So these days, the sale itself has become only the beginning. This understanding is crucial in business, because the expense necessary to retain a customer is quite a bit less than the amount which has to be paid out to acquire a new one.

In management training, individuals learn that companies who view selling as a beginning are the ones truly capable of dominating the market, and those which move along previously established paths - will be inevitably weeded out. Beginning with the sale, organisations rain down benefits on their customers. In addition to the obvious advantages which the customers receive, the organisations also receive detailed feedback on the products or services they're providing. This can be further applied by incorporating this information into future projects. The "after sales service" is much appreciated by customers, as they tend to see this effort as an act of gratitude. Because of this, customers don't have to do much homework before buying an item, as they know that their grievances will be addressed properly if the product is faulty. Organisations also benefit from not having to spend money on vague advertising activities in order to attract customers, and now, these companies can be far more definitive with their advertising approach.

Technology and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) have crept into this aspect of advertising. With these systems there are various software applications that help with the maintenance of the huge databases which are updated in "real time" with the developments occurring in the purchase patterns of every customer.

Most business coaching experts agree that the crux of the matter is that selling has to be viewed as a "beginning" and never an "end", and if intelligently applied, this idea will take any company a very long way toward acquiring a larger piece of the market share.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of the L2L Group, specialising in supplying Executive Coaching, Training and Consultancy Services to Businesses around the World. Want to find out more about these comprehensive business building success strategies? Get Alan's phenomenal FREE Business Pack right now!