/24-7PressRelease/ - NEW YORK, NY, August 28, 2008 - For many people, a recession can be downright unnerving and for small business owners, it could mean the death of their business.
This is all the more reason for them to get creative in marketing their products and services without breaking the bank. The best place to start in order to keep advertising costs down would be their very own customer database. This is a hidden goldmine that far too many small business owners neglect.
Are you very good at maintaining customer relationships in your small business?
If the answer to this is 'no' and one of your goals is to make money in your business then you'd better re-focus your priorities.
Your top objective should be revolved around protecting your customer relationships and winning back those you thought you'd never lose.
Here is an excellent case study: The year was 1997 and United Parcel Service (UPS) lost a significant number of customers as a result of a strike by Teamsters lasting fifteen days.
So, where did much of UPS's base of 1.5 million customers run off into the sunset with?
Well, they rode off on a white horse with RPS, Federal Express, and Airborne because the work stoppage opened the eyes of the UPS customers to see how risky it is to use a single shipment company to take care of all their packages and parcels.
Of course, Fedex had no complaints about the strike as it was responsible for the company delivering upwards of 850,000 additional packages as each day of the strike went on and reported that they expected to keep at least 25% of these new customers.
UPS wasted very little time in putting into action an aggressive plan to reclaim their lost customers and neither should you as a small business owner. This is the way UPS looked at it: jobs are on the line and this posed a grave threat to their profits.
Furthermore, what made this situation worse was that despite the 80,000 drivers back behind the wheels of the big brown trucks....thousands more were laid off. UPS had one thing on their mind during this time: "Win back our customers or die!"
UPS put on their 'customer win-back' hats as soon as the strike settled down and began a telephone campaign letting customers know that business was back to normal as usual and sending out letters expressing their apology for any inconvenience it may have caused.
UPS officials also mailed out letters reassuring customers that the company's former reliability had been reinstated and encouraged them to use the discounted certificates enclosed.
This attitude of 'things being back to normal' was also being reinforced by the UPS drivers dropping by for pickups as they expressed cheerfulness and great confidence when meeting face to face with customers.
Do you think it stopped there? Not at all.
UPS was determined to further heal the open wounds and broken trust such that they invited their customers to meet with them at both small and large round table meetings to hear them out.
The goal was to recover their lost customers and their many win-back initiatives coupled with on-line shopping, continued progress in shipping technology and cost-effective services, helped UPS to accomplish this goal.
It also enabled them to return their drivers to work and increase its' profits by 87 percent only one year following the strike that almost destroyed their business.
If you're thinking to yourself that you could never be in the same situation with UPS as you're a small business owner and only major companies are vulnerable to these kinds of things....
Well, my friend, I couldn't disagree with you more because every business need to be protecting and maintaining customer relationships especially in these unstable economic times as it's been reported that every year businesses lose anywhere between 10 to 40 percent of their customers.
Think about all the news you read about in downsizings, plant closings, rightsizings and layoffs. What kind of effect do you think this is having on employees and the surrounding communities?
What about the impact on customer turnovers that go unmonitored? This type of thing results in the remaining customers feeling alienated, stagnation in company growth, and deterioration of employee trust.
And we all know that when people are not treated in the way they feel is right by a business they are quick to raise their voices for everyone within earshot to hear.
This reminds me of a restaurant I used to be a customer of for many years. I spent an average of $150 per month with them on their menu specials. I loved the food and brought along several co-workers to join me there for lunch.
One day I went to grab my usual meal there and learned that the restaurant would be closing their doors that very same day and moving to another location much further away due to the high rent prices they were paying.
I remember hearing customer after customer expressing their shock and disappointment upon learning of this sudden news: "What?!...well, why didn't the owner send out a letter letting us know?!!"
I shared the same sentiments. And even though it served the some of the best meals that I've ever tasted....I never recommended it to another individual nor did I go to the trouble of traveling to their new location because of how they treated me. Needless to say, they lost me as a customer.
Hmmm...something tells me this place of business is going to have bigger problems to come than keeping up with the high cost of rent.
If you're not doing everything you can do to protect your customer relationships then you'll be spending a significant amount of money in advertising and since most small businesses are not using direct response marketing in which they're employing tracking and measuring strategies....they're most likely wasting their money.
But that's a topic for my next article. Until then, focus on the lesson I hope you've learned here: the importance of maintaining customer relationships.
If you take care of your customers....they'll take good care of you!
Yves Marie Danie Baptiste is an expert in small business marketing, helping entrepreneurs with limited budgets to find creative ways to increase their profits. Visit: http://tinyurl.com/6eysp4 for more information on how to powerfully market your small business and increase your income with your existing customers.
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