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It is critical to your business’ success to stand out from the rest. With these five top tips, you can’t go wrong.
Promote Your Business
Above all else, this should be an obvious one. If no one has heard of your business, there is little merit in investing your time and money in developing it. In order to promote your business it’s worth investing some time looking for a great advertising company. Advertising is the most powerful way to reach customers and ultimately promote interest in your business, leading to increased revenue.
Exceed Customer Expectations
Once you have your marketing campaign in place, one of the next most important things to focus on is retaining the customers you have just succeeded in attracting. This can be achieved by going that extra mile to increase customer expectations, most notably through excellent customer service. No matter what your business, proving to your customers that they come first is the best way you can hope to not only retain their loyalty, but to ensure they recommend you to others. This can be through word of mouth or by the much more far reaching online review. Attaining great reviews can transform your business as each positive review builds upon the next and trust amongst potential customers in your business grows.
Treat Your Employees Fairly
Your company’s employees are just as important as your customers. Without them, you would not be able to successfully get your business off the ground. Mistreating employees can be detrimental to morale and will ultimately be damaging to your business. Employees who feel they are truly valued and respected will be much more willing to work hard for you when crunch time comes. Managers at the highest level need to convey to employees how they believe they all should be treated in order for this to filter down the chain. This is explored in more detail in ‘Become the Manager Employees Want to Emulate’.
Reward Customer Loyalty
Simple schemes such as the loyalty cards offered by a myriad of businesses can be enough to keep customers coming back time and again. Points based systems which reward customers once they spend a certain amount can be a great incentive. It is also worth investing in the necessary technology to support this, such as creating your own app to allow customers the ease of being able to view and collect points on their phone, as well as receive special offers only available to ‘loyal customers’.
Listen to your customers and act on their feedback
Nothing shows customers that your business is the one for them like a clear demonstration that their feedback matters. Be sure to follow up on negative feedback on a personal level, as well as to make wider changes when issues affect a range of customers. In addition to this, following up on positive feedback can also go a long way. Thanking customers who have taken the time to write positive reviews and ultimately increase your customer base can make them feel valued and more likely to recommend you.
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