joint venture marketing
Joint ventures are an excellent tool for growing your customer base, but what do you do once all those new customers are interested in your products or services? To ensure first time customers become profitable regulars, you must surprise and delight them with stellar service that puts the competition to shame. Consider these five ways to exceed your customer’s expectations, once your JV partner has successfully shuttled more customer traffic your way.
Learn their Names
Customers love to be called by name, so learn and use names as often as you can. If your staff has trouble remembering the names of your regulars, offer your employees some sort of incentive to make a point of calling your customers by name. Keep in mind these customers are more than likely already recognized by your JV partner, and they want to be recognized by your company as well.
Remember their Favorite Products
Regular customers often purchase the same products over and over. Keep track of the purchases your customers make; you can even make a spreadsheet to track the most frequent purchases. Once you know which products or services a particular customer likes, notify them of sales or promotions on those items. Put a few aside so they are always in stock when your customer comes in. Customer love to feel they are getting the royal treatment when they walk through your door.
Follow Through after the Sale
Once a sale is complete, follow up with your customer to ensure the product and service the customer received were both satisfactory. If your customer had an issue with the product or the sales process, send a coupon out to entice the customer back once the issue is resolved to their satisfaction. This extra effort will let the customer know you value their business as much as your joint venture partner does, and it will keep him coming back to your company for more.
Bend a Policy
Most policies and procedures can be bent or even broken from time to time to keep a customer happy. This is especially true for your regulars. Maybe your customer needs a rush on an order or requires a special item you don’t usually stock. When you go the extra mile for your customer, you let them know they are important to you and your company.
Ask them for Feedback
You can hand out feedback cards, offer an online survey or simply ask your customers how you’re doing. Find out if there are any products you don’t carry that your customers would like. Ask if the products and service they receive meets their expectations. Find out what you could do to make the experience with your company more convenient and enjoyable. People love to be asked for their opinion, and the information you receive from your customers could help you raise your service bar overall.
Joint ventures are an excellent way to grow your customer base, but once those new customers come into your business, it is up to you to ensure they keep coming back for more. With these tips on exceeding your customers’ expectations, you can rest assured your client base will leave your business satisfied with their products and services every time they do business with you.
christian fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A joint venture marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
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