It is worth repeating…The goal of a business is to create and keep customers. I would like to focus on the word “keep“. I find that too often there is no organized and disciplined strategy to “keep” the customers you create, and we won’t keep them unless we give exceptional service and added value. I guess we could say that customers are like our teeth…”Ignore them and they will go away. ”
Last week I was talking to a membership services director of a large fitness center in the Chicago area. He had directed one of his staff to contact some member that hadn’t visited for a while. Instead of directly calling, the associate sent them an email. The person replied quickly, and said their appreciated the email, but needed to cancel their membership. They said they were just too busy.
When the manager learned that she had not called them directly, he pointed out that a real conversation would have provided an opportunity to respond and lead the other person to consider benefits or ideas they either forgotten about and were not aware of. By sending an email rather than directly calling, they missed a chance to keep a member.
When Carl (the manager) shared this story, I realized the same thing had happened to me that very day. I received an email from a subscription that I was thinking about cancelling. The purpose of the email was to get me more engaged in their service. Instead, it turned out to be an easy, passive way for me to cancel.
What is your strategy for staying in touch with your customer? What added value do you offer? What do you do to go the extra mile beyond your competition? Customers…ignore them, and they will go away!
