Secrets to Success
Secrets to Success
Grow profits
Last of a three-part series
through loyaltyClient loyalty is one of the three things you can do to boost your net profits by as much as 287 percent without adding to your overhead.
Loyalty lengthens the lifetime of a client, the frequency they buy from you and the amount they spend per sale. The increased revenues go directly to your bottom line.
Last week, we reviewed the No. 1 principle for boosting your net profits with client loyalty. That is to focus on the client. You learned that as simple as that sounds, if you seek to meet the five universal needs all clients have, regardless of your industry or profession, they will become raving fans of you and your business. If you started to practice fulfilling these needs over the past week, I'm sure you've already started to recognize improvements in the way you and your team respond to your clients.
As promised, this week in the third and final part of this action series you will learn two more principles critical to unlocking the cash flow you have hidden in your client's loyalty.
Principle 2: DWYSYWD... PLM! (Do what you say you will do ... plus a little more.)
The startlingly simple principle of DWYSYWD seems to be foreign to many companies today. So much so, that when you and your company actually follow through, you are already ahead of the pack. DWYSYWD is as simple as:
>> Call when you say you will call.
>> Set a schedule, put your client on it, and do everything in your power to be sure you stick to it.
>> Make sure employees arrive at a client's location when you tell the client they will arrive. (Planning to arrive at least 15 minutes early has been an effective strategy.)
>> Keep clients informed immediately if something comes up that will not allow you to DWYSYWD. And then give a little more to make up for it.
Set yourself up to win big with the law of exponential growth! Why just build loyal clients when you can build loyal partners in your business at the same time? You are already expending a significant amount of effort to DWYSYWD. Take the tiny bit of extra effort it requires to give a bit more than the client expects.
Principle 3: Find value from sources outside your business and deliver it to your customers.
Let your clients know they are number one by finding products or services that are complementary to those you offer. Form strategic partnerships with individuals or businesses that can add more value to your clients. By introducing these benefits to your clients you show you care about their needs in a tangible way.
You can also play the role of a "talent scout" for your clients. This can be as easy as keeping the staffing needs of your clients in mind. Keep an eye out for that software solution to their inventory tracking needs, or simply watch for articles that pertain to their industry/profession and send them a copy with a quick personal note.
Whether you're the owner of a growing business or a manager looking to boost returns, you can exponentially boost net profits by increasing client loyalty. I promise that if you expand your understanding of these simple, yet powerful principles and follow through with consistent action, you will see measurable increases in your bottom line within one financial quarter.
If you would like to receive the action report version of this article, send me an e-mail and I'll make sure you get it.
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.