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34 | MARCH 12, 2014
BUSINESS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

BUSINESS IS PERSONAL Mark Rifey

Prevent Lost Customers

With These Five Words

S
MALL BUSINESSES ARE I say multiple because what works
always interested in getting more for one doesn’t always work for another.

new customers, but owners some- If you have a great Android smartphone
times forget that keeping existing cus- app to communicate with your custom-
tomers is less expensive than the cost of ers, where does that leave customers
replacing them.
who own iPhones? What about custom-
While products, services and cus- ers who don’t have smartphones?
tomer support are critical to the health Diferent people favor diferent com-
of your business, it’s critical to maintain munication media because they retain
a strong connection with your custom- info better in their media of choice, be it

ers through proper communications.
direct mail, a blog, a smartphone app or
Tending to this connection and nur- a podcast. If you don’t make it easy and
turing it into a relationship is critical to convenient to consume, you’ll automati-
the health of your business.
cally prevent some people from receiv-
Think about the businesses you fre- ing your message – no matter how ur-
quent most often. Do they communicate gent or important.
in a way that encourages trust, doesn’t
waste your time or take you for granted?
REMIND
These things build a good business Most small business owners don’t
relationship just as they do a personal know when they’ve lost a customer, and
one.
even when they do, most don’t commu-
Let’s discuss ive words you can focus nicate often enough with these “lost”
on to help your small business prevent customers via cost-efective methods.
lost customers by improving the quality Without up-to-date contact info and
and efectiveness of your communica-
valuing your former customers’ time,
tion with clients.
your message either fails to reach the
person or is of so little value, they ignore,
COLLECT
unsubscribe or worse.
DINING ROOM Despite the obvious need to stay in What could be worse? They forget
touch or be forgotten, most businesses you ever existed.
OPEN FOR DINNER
fail to set up a consistent, cost-efective
system to collect contact information CLEAN

from their customers.
Do you keep your customer list
Ten years ago, most people would clean?
give up their contact info much more Clean means you deal with bounced
readily than they will today – and for emails, returned mail and bad phone
good reason. Combine spammers, data numbers so that your contact attempts
breaches by hackers (or data shared by get to the right place. For communica-
them) and the all-too-often inappropri- tions that require an investment, this
ate use of customer data, and your cli- helps make sure the money you spend

ents have plenty of reasons to have sec- actually gets the message delivered.
ond thoughts about passing along their
contact info – even if it’s nothing more SEGMENT
than their email address.
Do you communicate to diferent
These days, it has to be worth it to let customer groups with a message ine
you into their email box, even though it tuned for their needs, wants and desires
is (usually) easier than ever to leave their - or do you sent the same message to ev-

email list.
eryone?
Think about the last time you gave Many small business owners waste
someone your email address. Did they a tremendous amount of time, goodwill
treat it well, thus appreciating that you and/or money contacting their entire
allowed them to email you? Did they client list rather than using inely tuned
abuse the privilege? Did they send info advertising and marketing, which keeps
that clearly had nothing to do with you, costs low and skyrockets results.
your needs, wants and desires – or did Even if you don’t use direct mail,

they nail it?
there’s a lot to lose if you don’t make sure
Imagine how much trust it takes for the right message reaches the right peo-
them to give you their full contact info. ple.
Are you honoring that trust? Given the How many times have you received
data breaches in the news these days, a great “new customer promotion” deal
this is a taller order than it used to be.
even though you are a customer of that
company? What messages does that

TALK
send?
Most small businesses don’t com- Proper communication is essential –
municate enough with their present cus- and it’s far more than broadcasting your 139 1ST AVENUE WEST
tomers in multiple, cost-efective ways.
message to anyone with a heartbeat.
KALISPELL
755-4441
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or
marketing problem? See Mark’s site, rescuemarketing.com, or contact him via email
at [email protected].
WWW.NBGRILLE.COM

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