6 Things Every Good Business Needs To Attract and Retain Customers

You have likely heard or even uttered the phrase, “I’d love this job if it weren’t for the people.” True, working with or for others can be challenging at times, but your customers – both internal and external – should be your top priority. Without your customers, you don’t have a business, and, without customer service, you don’t have customers.

Customer Focus

What is customer service, you might ask? Customer service is the act of caring enough about your customers to provide them with a pleasant experience, from start to finish. It is about working together to achieve a positive outcome for both parties. Providing a quality customer experience will help boost your company’s reputation and build your client base.

Branding

Think about the message you want to send to and the reputation you want to have with your current and future customers. Branding your business will help you provide a clearly defined message regarding what your company is about and the type of products or services you provide.

You may choose to have a defined vision statement, mission statement, and list of values as part of your brand that will attract your target market and help your business grow. You might also choose to have professionally designed logos and labels created to increase visual identification. People want to feel a sense of connectedness to the products and services they are buying, which ensures they keep coming back for more. Branding, along with a quality product or service, can help create this sense of connectedness with customers.

Quality Product or Service

In order to have a customer base, you must first have a product or service people are interested in purchasing. Customers demand quality when making these purchases. Ask yourself what it is your customers are looking for and how you will provide it. What makes your product unique and sets it apart from the rest? Is your product or service so good that people will come back and do business with you again, or does your business rely on customer referrals? How do you measure the quality of your product or service in relation to what your customers consider high quality? Part of understanding what your customers want is by first understanding your target market.

Targeted Marketing

Know your target market. Who is your audience? Why are they interested in buying what you are offering? The more you know about the consumer, the better you can market your product and begin generating revenues. A good way to determine and learn more about your target market is to conduct audience research. You will learn about what is important to your customers and how that reflects on your business.

Social Responsibility

People want to do business with a company that cares about its community, and, therefore, its customers. Participating in charity or volunteer work, going green, and giving sizeable donations for various causes are some ways in which a business can get involved and show their concern for the community. Activities such as this are typically looked upon favorably by the buying public. How will your business give back to your community?

Some businesses sponsor little league teams while others donate to families in need. There is no right answer; only what is right for you based on your company’s mission and values. Regardless of how you choose to contribute, people value transparency in how you run your business.

Transparency

In today’s world, transparency in business is more important than ever. People want to know they are doing business with a reputable company. The more open and honest you are, the better off you will be. Transparency builds trust, which will help you attract and retain customers.

Although we are living in an age where we can access information and purchase products with just the touch of a button and limited to no physical or social interaction, businesses should still care about the people-side of things. Without people, there are no profits. Take the time to focus on the people and what they value. Your business will thank you.