This also goes for subscribers and loyal readers of blogs, community sites etc.
When you first start out marketing your products or services you are grateful for those early customers. You may be in constant contact, reply quickly to emails and never forget to reply to their comments on your posts.
Easy to forget
As you build your business, get more customers it can be easy to forget the ones who supported you in the beginning and not be as responsive or proactive as before.
There could be many reasons for this, such as newer customers may buy more or more often. The older readers may only comment once in a while or not at all and newer readers comment and share your posts with others all the time.
In fact you may not even be are that they are not around as much as they used to be.
Loyalty
The problem is and you may not be aware of it is that they do not forget the early days when you needed them. They remember when their referrals were eagerly sought and felt they were an important part of your business.
I am not saying that you should keep customers who are no longer viable for your business as that just does not make sense.
However to get and keep customer loyalty you need to be proactive which does take effort and consistency to ensure the relationships strengthen and last.
The worst thing that could have happened by not remembering and keeping in touch with these customers is they have taken their loyalty to a competitor.
What to do
Although it may be difficult or even a little daunting why not contact them. Work out their preferred means of communication and get in touch.
If directly contacting them is not your preferred option you can always start commenting and sharing their posts if they blog. Showing action can mean more than words.
You could also refer business to them.
There are many ways to rekindle the relationship so please share how you get back in touch with past customers.
Spot on Susan, I have a few basic principles I find work, one is – if people are taking the time and care to email me, refer business to me and comment on my posts, then they deserve my time. And in particular if they have been a long time client. Good to remember your roots.
Hi Ensha and you summed it up really well when you said remember your roots. Also I like the point about deserving my time. I agree with you and when you think about it long time clients and those who have been there for the beginning we should be grateful for.
Thanks for the comments. Appreciate them.
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Your posts always make me wince, Susan, with the realisation that I must continue to lift my game. I have improved with regard to client contact. My survey was a success. And asking to include them in blog posts has brought many of us closer. But I still need to do more. Thanks for the reminder! Best regards, P.
Hi Paul,
I definitely did not want you to wince and I would say you would not be the type not to be loyal to your clients. Great idea to include them on your blog posts and I am sure they appreciate it.
Cheers,
Susan
The Danger of Forgetting That Customers Have Long Memories…
When you first start out marketing your products or services you are grateful for those early customers. You may be in constant contact, reply quickly to emails and never forget to reply to their comments on your posts. As you build your business, get …
Susan,
I had a best friend for many years. He started dating a new girl and fell in with her crowd. He virtually forgot the old gang! It was pretty painful that loyalty and “make new friends but keep the old…one is silver and the other’s gold” went by the wayside.
Your great post about remembering old customers and loyalty are similar concepts. I agree with you…keeping in toch by any means necessary is essential.
Thanks for more of your great words of wisdom!
With much appreciation,
Yoni
Hi Yoni,
Good points and your example in personal relationships illustrates the point very well as we can forget our customers have feelings. I have also heard of stories when businesses try and go back to past customers that they have ignored and are surprised when they are not welcomed.
Thanks for commenting Yoni.
Susan
So true Susan! Many people forget those customers who have been faithful, in favor of the ‘one hit wonders’ – big contracts who promise lots but then quickly switch to another provider after milking you dry. Its very important, as Ensha said, ‘to remember your roots’, don’t over extend yourself and upset the old faithfuls.
Never forget that bad news travels fast!
Hi Winston,
I like your term ‘one hit wonders’. Also your point about over extending yourself is very true and that can be one reason we can forget the faithful customers, especially when experiencing a high growth phase.
Thanks for stopping by and I enjoy reading your comments over at mybrc.
Cheers,
Susan
Hi Susan,
Wiser words are seldom spoken. I spent some time in a new region with a mandate to bust some new clients. I put in the hard work and managed to close a few very strategic deals. The next year I moved on to other things and handed the plumb accounts over to new salespeople. About 9 months later, I started to get angry calls from customers who complained about being neglected. They were right to complain. No one was calling on them or even keeping in touch. It took another round of concentrated effort to get them back on side. It never occurred to me the new sales people wouldn’t look after them. More and more, I’m finding customer service being addressed as if it’s a short-term function to close a sale. Great post.
Hi Sarah,
That is a good story and it is interesting that you got the calls. Some customers wouldn’t bother and it obviously showed the work you put in to develop the relationship.
That is what I can’t understand, it takes time and effort to get customers, subscribers, readers etc in the first place and by forgetting them for new ones it actually ends up costing more of your time and effort. Not a good business decision.
Thanks for the real life story and comment.
Susan
Very interesting article. Many businesses, including small and large, forget what brought them to where they are after they become successful.
One lesson I have learned from running number of small businesses is that you cannot forget your existing customers. You need to do everything you can to hold onto them. It costs lot more to attract new customers than to hold onto existing ones.
I have written a series of posts on customer service and how to take care of best customers that you and your readers may be interested in. You can find them here – http://www.angelbusinessadvisors.com/blog/category/customer-service/
Hi Sally,
Your articles are interesting and I am sure readers will find them interesting. You are right about existing customers and yet for some reaon a lot of focus is still on getting new customers.
Thanks for your comment.