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Business Challenge

Quite often the best customer is the customer you already have.  While we always want to continue the journey of adding new customers, there is often a missed opportunity of focusing on retention of existing customers and maximizing the value of those customers.  Keep in mind that “maximizing the value” doesn’t just mean raising prices on existing customers (i.e. like some of the big companies do when they know you won’t leave)…no, it means finding ways to add real value to their lives and in turn your business.

In the effort of adding new value to existing customers and revenue to your business, today’s challenge is:

“How do I get my customers to buy more?”

or

“How do I increase my customer value?”

Listen in and read on to find out more:

Key Items

1. What do your top 10% of customers and top 1% need? – In any given business there are 10% of your customers willing to pay a higher premium for better service of your existing offering or a higher quality of product.  The top 1% of customers are willing to pay a higher premium (i.e. think VIP or Platinum level).  Understanding the needs of your customer base will help you to craft the right product and offer.  For some businesses this can be dedicated time with you (the businesses owner) and for some it could be providing an over the top guarantee on your top level service.  Consider doing a survey to your clients to understand what more you could offer.
2. Continuity offer after a one time Service - In service businesses (i.e. computer repair, plumbing, etc.) the engagement is often a one time service event.  Even if you do a great job it could be months or years before that customer calls you back because you did such a great job for them!  For businesses that are often a one time service event there is an opportunity to provide a continuity service to increase the customer value.  In computer repair we had one client offer a monthly service to each client after service and his adoption rate was over 70%!
3. Could you expand your product or service line? – Increasing customer value could be as simple as adding a related service offering.  Now this is one you have to be careful with as you want to remain an expert in what you offer, so being an “expert” in 100’s of products or service lines isn’t likely.  Select your related offerings carefully (avoid the “We sell water and cell phones”…yes we have seen that) to ensure it maximizes the customer value, it is not just chasing revenue.

Sponsors

• Perry Marshall – As the co-author of the Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords, creator of the Adwords Bootcamp and one who has developed ninja level marketing programs you are sure to find a marketing strategies and tactics that will help your business get to the next level.
• Email Autoresponders – Staying connected with existing customers and prospects can be a challenge when you are relying on only your own activity.  Implementing an email autoresponder sequence will help you to engage prospects over time until they are ready to do business with you and keep existing customers thrilled that you are staying in touch.  Find out more about the solutions that can help your business today.

Want Your Challenge Featured?

With each challenge we tackle, we look to not only solve the problem we look to shed light on new opportunities for our listeners.  We invite you listen to a couple of the business owners who shared their challenges and to submit your own today!