6 Ways to Keep Your Customers Loyal

6 Ways to Keep Your Customers Loyal6 Ways to Keep Your Customers LoyalIf your competitors are trying to grow new business, its almost inevitable that some of them will start sniffing around your customers, trying to lure them away. Unless you take a few precautions, you could find yourself losing your customer base before you even know whats happened. 01Stay in TouchJose Luis Pelaez Inc/Blend Images/Getty ImagesHow often do you pick up the phone and call your existing customers? Almost certainly leid as often as you should. Yes, it takes time away from other sales activities,but think of the five minutes you spend talking to your best customer as customer insurance.As a rule, the more important your customer is, the more frequent your check-ins should be, but dont neglect any of your customers. Youre also not just limited to using the phone email and even snail mail can be great ways to maintain contact.02Add ValueWhen you call up those customers, dont just say hi. Always try to find a way to offer something of value. It could be a fact youve uncovered thats relevant to your customers business. It could be a news article thats appeared recently that somehow relates to your customer or a suggestion youve come up with on how to maximize the return theyd get using the product theyve already bought from you.If a customer starts thinking of you as a valuable resource over and above what your product does, theyre far less likely to drop you for a competitor.03Build IntelligenceAsk your customers to let you know after theyve been approached by a competitor. If you have a good relationship with the customer, you can just request it as a favor.For new or very major customers, consider offeringsome kind of bonus, like a discount on their next purchase or a freemium of some kind.Once your customers are in the habit of telling you about any poaching attempts, not only will you have a much better chance to salvage the relationship, but youll have an excellent opportunity to spy on your competitors strategies.04Become a ResourceThe more you know about your product and the related industry or industries, the more valuable you can be for your customers. Encourage them to ask you questions, and if you dont know the answer, find out.This will make your relationship with them much stickierbecause even if theyre tempted to ditch your product, theyll hesitate to lose you as a source of information.Build up your knowledge base by reading industry-related books and magazines and by mining information from coworkers in customer tafelgeschirr departments.05CounterattackIf a particular competitor has been approaching or stealing your customers, its time to turn the tables. Go after that competitors customers, and youre likely to distract him from poaching and turn them instead to guarding their own accounts.Once youve built an intelligence network with your own customers, youll be able to launch attacks on competitors at the first sign of poaching so you canstop t hem before they really get started.06Prepare for Price WarsWhen a competitor gets serious about building new business, theyll often start by dropping prices to ridiculously low levels. Be ready to respond to such undercutting as quickly as you can.Providing extra value will help you to lay the groundwork and at least get your customers to think twice before they jump ship.When the inevitable happens and a customer calls to say that Company X is offering them a super price, you need to have a list of reasons on hand why your product is ?still a better deal.