Secrets to Success
Secrets to Success
Triple your net profits
Part one of three parts
with patron loyaltyYou've worked long and hard to acquire your customers, and now you want to keep them, right?
When you step back to analyze what it costs to obtain a customer, you quickly realize just how important patron loyalty is to your bottom line.
Loyalty will increase the lifetime of a patron, the frequency of their purchases from you, and the amount they spend per sale. All of these benefits come to your company without you having to increase your overhead 1 cent. The increased revenues go directly to the bottom line.
Whether you are a business owner growing your business, a manager looking to boost the returns your team produces, or a team member looking to dramatically improve your opportunity for advancement, you can do it with the increased loyalty of patrons.
In this three-part action series we'll take a look at the top three proven principles you and your employees can begin to put in place to immediately increase loyalty and double, or even triple, your net profits.
Let's start with a simple secret crucial in laying the foundation for successful implementation of these principles. When implemented properly, I have seen this one secret produce a 32 percent improvement in customer loyalty and resulting re-purchases all by itself.
RPM Success Secret: Stop using the word "customer" and start using the word "client."
A client is a person who seeks to have their needs met by a professional, while a customer is defined merely as a buyer.
Understanding this critical difference and practicing this simple change will help you and your team internalize a new way of thinking about the people who make your paycheck a reality.
Whether you own your own company or are a member of a company team, your income comes from one source and one source only -- the people who invest in your company through the products and services you provide.
Do you want people to feel like buyers or recipients of professional care?
Another way to look at this concept is to ask yourself which businesses you have long term relationships with.
I'd imagine it's the companies who make you feel that your needs and desires are understood and take action to meet your needs. People want the same thing as you.
This simple little secret of using better words to define different aspects of your business will lay the foundation that is needed for exponential returns for any performance improvement initiative in your business.
In the training and development work we do with companies seeking to improve performance, this technique has been proven time after time.
One of the first actions we often recommend is changing the words used to identify everything from position titles to names for operational processes.
Among the most important shifts made when changing customer to client is making sure everyone in the company truly understands why this change is being made.
The words you and your team use to identify people who are investing in the products and services of your company is instrumental in determining how they're treated.
Understanding the difference in the meaning of words and practicing this simple change on a consistent basis will help you and your team internalize a new way of thinking about the people you serve.
Every person who comes in contact with a member on your team will be positively impacted by this change.
In the next column I will review the five key points that all clients want.
You'll learn how mastering these five key points will unlock the exponential, positive impact on the profitability of your company.
If you would like to read the "Action Report" version of this article; complete with tips from the coach, examples and action steps, send me an e-mail and I'll make sure you get a copy.
John-Paul Micek is the lead business coach
and chief operating officer of RPM Success Group. Reach
him at JPM@RPMsuccess.com or (888) 334-8151.