Sales & Marketing Consultant, Bestselling Author & Business Motivational Speaker

Exact measurements vary, but by some estimates, it costs a business as much as 5 times more to bring a new customer as it does to keep an existing one. 5 times more! Which means that keeping your existing customers happy, and coming back for more, can make a much bigger difference on your bottom line than can bringing in new ones. Which is not to say that you shouldn’t try to bring in new customers – by all means you should. But you should also focus at least as happy on keeping the ones you’ve already got happy. Read on for three of my top ways of doing this.

The Customer is Not Always Right, But…

Years ago, when I got my very first marketing job, there was a big sign up on the wall that said “The customer may not always be right, but he always deserves your respect and attention.” I loved this line, and I’ve carried it with me to this day. That company has since gone on to dominate its industry – I think in no small part due to that mentality.

Especially in this day of social networking and instant communication, one small faux-pas can be a death sentence for your branding efforts. The last thing you want is a displeased customer who might get on Twitter and start trashing your brand. Even if it costs you a little bit, go out of your way to keep every customer happy, and never, ever, take a customer’s business for granted.

Be Attentive

This goes along the same lines. Pay serious attention to both complaints and compliments from your customers. Many businesses have full teams dedicated to searching through blogs and social networks for complaints about their company in order to remedy the situation before it goes viral. This may not be a practical solution for your business, but you can definitely borrow the idea.

Pay attention to mentions of your brand on your customers social networks and blogs. When you see something come up, take action. If it is a complaint about something that you’ve done, make an offer to the customer to appease them, and remedy the situation so that it doesn’t happen again to any of your other customers.

By the same note, if you received a compliment, reach out to that customer and thank them for complimenting your business. And even more importantly, look at what caused that compliment and try to make sure that it happens to all of your customers, rather than just one.

Use a Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs take customer retention to a more technical level. Give your customers a financial incentive to keep them coming back. If someone is 80% of the way to a free cup of coffee, you can be sure that they’re going to get at least two more cups so that they can finish off the card and get their prize.

For your business, make use of email lists in order to make discount offers for repeat customers and keep people coming back for more.

The specifics will vary based on your industry, but the key to customer retention is treating them just as well as you would treat a potential client. Cater to their every need, and remember that they are the people who keep your business afloat.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Think about the most successful products and companies that you know. Companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, or McDonalds. Chances are, the majority of the most successful companies you know are very good at branding.

Now, in the case of Apple; contrast that company with Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn. Chances are the majority of people have never even heard of Foxconn, despite the fact that they manufacture a significant portion of the components that go inside of every iPhone, and are responsible for putting the whole thing together.

So what is the difference between the two companies that allows Apple to sit pretty and rake in 50%+ profit margins, while Foxconn is scraping by with razor-thin profits? Although there are several factors at play here, one of the biggest ones is branding. Apple, along with many other companies that enjoy dominant market positions, have branded themselves well. And as a result, they now enjoy market dominance, fat profit margins, and untouchable products.

So how you make your company into the equivalent of Apple? As the title suggest, building the brand is all about improving company reputation and improving your market position.

Building your Reputation

Building your reputation is the key to branding, and is a difficult, drawn-out process. Hence the reason top global brands are valued in billions of pounds. But the process begins with you. Make sure that you brand is aligned with your company vision, and share that vision with your employees, customers, and personal connections.

Create an image for your company, and make sure that that image is one which delivers time and time again in terms of quality, price, and effectiveness. Over time, new and existing customers will begin to associate you, and your company, with effectiveness and quality, and you’ll see the beginnings of an improved brand image.

Market Position

Position is a bit more of an abstract concept, and goes a bit beyond the breadth of a single blog post. It refers essentially to what position you occupy in the minds of your customer and potential customers. Upmarket or not. Whether they think of you as more of a Tesco or a Harrod’s, so to speak.

 The key to market position is getting away from competitors, and finding an industry niche that you can occupy exclusively. Once you do this, you put yourself in a market position where you can control pricing, and build a quality reputation.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Think about the most successful products and companies that you know. Companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, or McDonalds. Chances are, the majority of the most successful companies you know are very good at branding.

Now, in the case of Apple; contrast that company with Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn. Chances are the majority of people have never even heard of Foxconn, despite the fact that they manufacture a significant portion of the components that go inside of every iPhone, and are responsible for putting the whole thing together.

So what is the difference between the two companies that allows Apple to sit pretty and rake in 50%+ profit margins, while Foxconn is scraping by with razor-thin profits? Although there are several factors at play here, one of the biggest ones is branding. Apple, along with many other companies that enjoy dominant market positions, have branded themselves well. And as a result, they now enjoy market dominance, fat profit margins, and untouchable products.

So how you make your company into the equivalent of Apple? As the title suggest, building the brand is all about improving company reputation and improving your market position.

Building your Reputation

Building your reputation is the key to branding, and is a difficult, drawn-out process. Hence the reason top global brands are valued in billions of pounds. But the process begins with you. Make sure that you brand is aligned with your company vision, and share that vision with your employees, customers, and personal connections.

Create an image for your company, and make sure that that image is one which delivers time and time again in terms of quality, price, and effectiveness. Over time, new and existing customers will begin to associate you, and your company, with effectiveness and quality, and you’ll see the beginnings of an improved brand image.

Market Position

Position is a bit more of an abstract concept, and goes a bit beyond the breadth of a single blog post. It refers essentially to what position you occupy in the minds of your customer and potential customers. Upmarket or not. Whether they think of you as more of a Tesco or a Harrod’s, so to speak.

 The key to market position is getting away from competitors, and finding an industry niche that you can occupy exclusively. Once you do this, you put yourself in a market position where you can control pricing, and build a quality reputation.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Okay, so maybe that title is a bit misleading. I may not actually be able to tell you, step-by-step how to create the next website which will make you the youngest billionaire on the planet. However, I can give you some valuable insights into the process of creating new products.

Product creation is an essential part of any business. In fact, without product creation, there is no business. Even if you only do affiliate-based work, you should still understand that product creation process, as it will make you more aware of which products are worth marketing, and which affiliates stand the best chance of putting some money in your pocket.

Start with Yourself

Naturally, the product creation process begins with you. Any time you’re developing a product, it should be within an area in which you have considerable experience or expertise. So, for instance, as interesting as it might be to try and write an ebook about rock climbing in the Himalayas, I don’t plan on doing it any time soon.

On the other hand, I have extensive experience in the sales and marketing industries, and hence have some pertinent knowledge which can be turned into an information product, or some knowledge of inefficient industry processes which can be leveraged into a product.

Develop for the Market, Not the Other Way Around

The key to developing and marketing a successful product is finding a market niche that you know a lot about, and then building a product specifically designed to fit into that niche.

By doing so, not only are you positioning your product to move and making the marketing process easier on yourself, but you’re also likely to find yourself in a position where you’re not confronted with immediate competition. This will allow you to set the market price, and make a healthy return on the time and money you’ve invested in the development of your product.

Among the best ways to identify a new market niche are to think about the areas in which you have expertise, and look at what products are missing.

For instance, if you’re an SEO expert, you’re probably qualified to create an information product about SEO. However, this marketplace is already extremely crowded. But that doesn’t mean its full. Look at where you struggled to find information about SEO, or think about how you could streamline the process of keyword selection, and create your product around that void.

Product creation can be a difficult and arduous process, but it is an extremely rewarding one as well. Not only will it allow you to develop additional expertise in your field, but it will also put you in a commanding market position once you’ve done so.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Valentine’s day has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still show your love. After all, each day is an opportunity to show the people who you care about how much you really appreciate them. And when was the last time that you really showed your customers how much they mean to you?

Alright, timely-holiday references aside, there are some serious benefits which come with making your company one that customers think of as something more than just a product or a brand. Besides engendering increased customer loyalty, you’ll also see a dramatic increase in valuable social media references and word-of-mouth referrals.

In short, by showing your customers that you care about them, you’ll see that they start to care a lot more about you in return.

Fortunately, there are a handful of quick and easy ways to show your customers that you care.

Exclusive Offers

Some business owners like to tout every offer as an exclusive offer. Hopefully that is not you. And that’s not what I’m talking about here regardless. Create some real, valuable, exclusives that make your customers feel appreciated.

If you’re developing a new version of your most popular software, let a few valued customers test a beta version. Or offer them a special discount only available to long-term customers.

Get Feedback

Beyond engaging your customers and making them feel appreciated, this one gives you legitimate business building advice. No one knows your business better than your customers.

But more importantly, everyone likes to have their opinion valued. And what makes you feel like your opinion is more valuable than having a company whose product you use regularly come to you and ask you how you think they can improve the product? You’ll create a life-long fan.

Reward Your Best Customers

Rewards programs are another great way to show your best customers that you care about them. The classic was Subway’s Sub Club. Every time you bought a sandwich, you got two stamps. 12 stamps got you a free sandwich. Not much money out of Subway’s pocket, and it created a lot of customer goodwill, and a lot of customer loyalty.

This is easiest to do with restaurants, but there are plenty of other ways you can implement a rewards program. For instance, if you offer a subscription service, you could provide a certain number of points with each month’s subscription. When your customer accumulates enough points, perhaps let them upgrade to a premium subscription for free.

These are just ideas to get your thought process going. How you can show your customers that you really care about them depends on your specific industry. The key is making your customers feel appreciated, and making them feel like their relationship is more than just a plain old buying and selling relationship.

Do this successfully, and you’re sure to reap the rewards.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker