Customer Care

Customer Care

In my last post I spoke about the lifespan of a customer and how not all customers are the same; there are basically 3 types of customers: loyal, fair-weather, and fickle.  Loyalists are the ones who will stick with you through good and bad times because they love the services and products you have to offer and believe in you.  These might be people who are local or were simply there from the first day of your business.  Fair-weather customers are those who come and go; maybe you offer a luxury item and they’ve been hit on hard times, or they are in the neighborhood only once in a while.  Fickle customers are the ones who get wooed away by competitors; they maybe the type who is always looking for the next best deal or may have been turned off by a single bad experience.

In this post we’ll explore ways to re-engage and retain each type.

Loyalists

Think back to when you first started your business.  Who were the first customers to walk through your door?  Do they still come in?  They may even have been there to help you get your business off the ground.  If they are still frequent customers, think about the last time you sat down with them.  As a small business owner, your time is limited and offering a service or product for free is a nice way of saying thank you, but if they’ve helped you grow your business it’s worthwhile to sit down over a cup of coffee and talk about your business.

Don’t be afraid to ask them for their time.  People who frequent small businesses do so because of the customer service.  They could just as easily buy a similar product or service elsewhere, but they are coming to you because of the unique experience you are providing them.  It’s ok to ask them for their referrals and pointers on how you can improve your business to attract more clients and to reward them once in a while.  Having this type of conversation beats any survey because your customer is engaged and giving you feedback.

Fair-Weather Customers

This group is hard to gauge.  They usually come a lot once they discover your business, but then abruptly disappear.  It may have been because of a bad experience, or they may have just moved away.  Regardless of the situation, you as the owner are left baffled.

Turn the confusion into a conversation.  I know you don’t have time to track down every lost soul, so I’m not suggesting you do this with all customers, but pick those who used to be frequent customers and then suddenly disappeared.  If you aren’t collecting contact info, it’s a good time to start.  I’d especially suggest this for owners who run service-oriented businesses with a customer base that visits periodically like massage therapy, wellness studios, or professional services like lawyers, accountants, dentists, and doctors.

In general, send updates about once a quarter on upcoming events, workshops, or sales that you’re putting on.  It will serve as a nice reminder to your customers in case they have forgotten you.  Keeping the frequency to 3-6 months is good and won’t seem spammy.

Fickle

Its hard to win those who have been wooed away.  But I’d recommend applying the same strategies with fair-weather customers.  Sometimes people are just shopping around for a good deal.  And then there are times when they maybe burned by competition and looking for quality service.  If you’re able to re-engage with them when they’re on the rebound you might even be able to convert them into a loyalist by showing that you care about your customers.

Case Study

I recently sat down with a yoga studio director who is a friend of mine and had her go through her student list to see how many active students she currently has and who had been around for the longest.  When she went through the list she realized their were students who had been coming to her studio for 20 years!  She realized that she wanted to reward them for both their loyalty to their practice and to her studio.  She also ran a special where customers could bring a friend to class and gave both people a discount.  Rewarding her loyal customers and bringing people in through referrals has helped her increase her customer base.

Poornima is a software engineer and entrepreneur. She was one of the first engineers at Mint.com, a startup, which was acquired by Intuit. She graduated from Duke University with double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Poornima has been a devoted yogini for the past 6 years and competes in Bikram Yoga. Through consulting with local studios looking to improve their management practices, she decided to create BizeeBee. Learn more about BizeeBee

Poornima Vijayashanker

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