Transcript

This is Stuart Webb. Breakthrough Growth Expert, author, founder and CEO of The Complete Approach with another of my one take vlogs, all the mistakes stay in.

I think it’s fair to say that we are all sometimes guilty of taking our BEST customers for granted. 

But during these challenging times, we have to work even harder to cement the relationship. 

Remember, your BEST customers are the customers, clients or patients who you profit from most, and where you have a sound relationship too. 

It’s a win-win relationship with your best customers. You appreciate the customer and they appreciate you. 

But because they don’t moan… because they pay on time… because they treat you and your staff with respect… sometimes they get very little attention from you. 

And, in reality, if you gave them more of yourself, more of your time, you’d end up getting more business from them. 

More than any other time, now is the time to really look after your best customers! In many respects, your best customers become more vulnerable because they are such good clients. 

Ideally, what you need to do, figuratively speaking, is to create a concrete wall around them so no other business can get close to them. In fairness, you do this just by being the good business you are, but that concrete wall doesn’t have a roof on. You need to add a concrete roof otherwise one of your competitors could get a large ladder, scale the walls and get to them. 

So how do you do that? 

Well, this is the best part: one key retention strategy is to make sure, twice a year, you take your top customers out for lunch (80% of your profit will come from 20% of your customers). 

That’s all. If that’s not possible, call them and have a quality chat over the phone or online (Skype, Zoom etc.). In time, recognise their loyalty with lunch or dinner—not as a group of customers, but individually. 

Just ‘chew the fat’. You don’t have to ‘talk shop’ (the conversation will naturally lean towards their needs and your products/services anyway). Show real interest in them, their family, their hobbies. Find out when their birthday is and the rest of their family. 

You’re looking to create a professional bond that’s as strong as super glue. And then, and only then, does your concrete roof start to take shape. 

Of course, it’s never fully built and there’s always a chance a competitor can ‘break in’ and steal the customer, but the closer you get to your best clients—the smaller the hole in the roof and the less chance your competitors will have.