News
To Protect and
Serve
By Alan Rosenspan, Alan Rosenspan
& Associates
“To Protect and Serve” is the objective of law
enforcement agencies all over the world. And it’s
more than just a motto; these are people who are
willing to risk their lives to save you.
I suggest that in this ragged economy, marketers
must adopt a similar motto when it comes to their
customers.
Today, consumers and businesses are taking a long
hard look at the companies they work with, and
asking questions like:
Do we really need this product or service?
Is it worth the money?
Is there a better alternative out there?
So the customers you currently have – the ones you
may be taking for granted – are now more vulnerable
than ever before. What can you do to better “protect
and serve” them?
As you can imagine, I have a number of suggestions.
1. Stay in contact. Not just to sell them stuff, but
to keep your name in front of them, and to
demonstrate your commitment to their business. A
survey is a great way to do this – since you are
asking them what you can to improve your service to
them.
You’ll get a great response; good reactions even
from those who don’t respond (“they really care
about my opinion”) and it may even identify
customers who may be at risk.
2. Show them you understand. Times are tough for
everyone; think of something you can do to make
things easier for your customers. Can you offer them
a better price? Better terms? Can you add something
that may not cost you much, but will save them
money? All of these things will be appreciated by
your customers.
At the very least, make sure to tell them you
understand. You might even begin your next direct
mail letter or e-mail with something like, “We’re
all under a lot of pressure in this economy. That’s
why our company is offering you…”
3. Make them feel valued. Mary Kay built her
multi-billion dollar cosmetic business based on a
simple idea. “Everyone has an invisible sign hanging
around his or her neck. It says ‘Make me feel
important.”
The more you make your customers feel important, the
more likely they are to stay with you – even during
difficult economic times.
4. Don’t run. Don’t hide. Tempting as it might be,
this is no time to cut your marketing budget.
However, this is the perfect time to weed out things
that don’t work, and to increase things that do.
It’s not just smart to do everything you can to hold
on to your existing customers; it also makes good
financial sense. When I ran the campaign to win back
customers who had left AT&T, we found that it cost
us over ten times as much to win back a customer as
it did to keep them.
So remember: “Protect and Serve” almost always leads
to “Protect and Serve and Sell”
Ironically, just as your customers are more
vulnerable these days, so are everyone else’s. And
we’ll discuss how to take advantage of that in the
next issue of DM Advisor.
---Source: Alan Rosenspan, president
of Alan Rosenspan and Associates. Email him at
ARosenspan@aol.com.
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