How to get repeat business

Q: Before I started I expected more customers to be returning for more service. What should I do to grow more repeat business?

A: The businesses that personalize customer service gain customers who come back. Your competition may have a product or service that is similar to yours, but with personalized customer service, you can distinguish your company.  Here are suggestions on how to go about it. 

Never let your clients forget who you are. Use every method possible to keep yourself in the front of their minds.

Write thank-you notes once a job is done—and handwritten notes stand out from the crowd. Just letting them know you appreciate their business is good etiquette that can pay off. Make it your business to find out your customers’ special occasions and send a card or flowers to let them know that you remember and value them.

Send them news clips that you think might be of interest to them, even if you don’t currently have a contract with that customer. The next time they need some work, they might call you. 

To get your customers back in the door, try giving them more than they paid for or that little extra that they didn’t expect. Customers should perceive that your product or service has greater value than those offered by your nearest competitor.

It’s not enough to meet your customer’s needs... you have to anticipate them. Look at your business like a customer would. What could you be doing better and what is your competition doing better? Think ahead to what the market is going to be demanding next year and determine what you can do better a year from now.  

Be sure to ask your customers as well. Send them postage-paid response cards or make a questionnaire available in your place of business.   

When a customer stops doing business with you, consider it unacceptable. Find out why it happened and then work to prevent it from happening again. 

Deliver what you promise. Too many people offer hype and then don’t deliver. Delivering a product or service that disappoints is the fastest way to lose your customers.

Remember to listen. Too many businesses advertise the next big thing without considering whether their customers want a next big thing. Your customers will tell you what they really want—if you really listen.  

Customer service doesn’t have to be elaborate to make an impression. Customers will remember the small things.