It’s funny to see how hard some businesses scratch, claw, and struggle their way to a sale… only to completely ignore their customer once the transaction has been made. Well, it’s not that funny if you’re the one on the receiving end of this kind of shameful customer service, but it happens all the time. In the course of doing business on a day-to-day basis, it’s often easier to just develop a pitch and spin it to anyone within earshot. Blithely casting a wide net is often the principle strategy on the Internet, and pretty soon customers start looking less like people with needs… and more like a series of streaming lines of numbers that swim in front of your eyes. One strategy that helps a lot is narrowing your scope to address the customers who are actually looking for you, and this can be achieved by utilizing fully vertical search tools like the ones on toptenwholesale.com or manufacturer.com, for the SEO-driven power-plays… but there are a few other things you can do, once your desired audience is looking to you for the next move.

Let’s face it; things are not as good as they were for a lot of companies these days, and you may be finding that prospective customers are strongly focused on downsizing and cost cutting rather than on expanding their business or acquiring the latest new product features in their industry. Companies that may have been in growth mode last year are putting projects on hold, reducing capital budgets, and paying renewed attention to cash management, and all of this seriously impacts the ones – like you – who are doing the selling. Protecting your investment and relationship with existing customers is crucial, and I’ll give you my three top reasons for this:

• They’ve already bought from you, and they’re likely to continue buying. This sure beats prospecting and marketing for new customers, doesn’t it?

• Your loyal customers are the number one low-cost source of referrals and networking opportunities. Period. If they like you, they will sell you to others.

• Feedback from a valued customer is more valuable than polls, surveys, and market analysis from questionnaires, online quizzes, and games.

Pretty simple, isn’t it? Most of this stuff you already know… but it bears repeating, especially when those dollars are becoming scarcer and harder to pry from people’s hands these days. Lack of easy to acquire credit is a reality too, and it will suddenly make cash availability a very important factor in leveraging a sale. It’s time for you to make a list of your best customers, and time for me to make a TopTen list of ways to protect your relationships with them:

• Provide Guarantees, and follow through with them. When you provide a guarantee, it isn’t because you’re simply making your site look legit and ‘official’ to those who browse it… it’s a way to let your customers know how and where to complain if they are not happy with your service. You don’t want this kind of news to circulate without your knowledge, so make sure to give the customer some criteria to judge you by, and if you are not meeting those expectations… then you will be the first to know, thanks to the guarantees you’ve put in place!

• Ask for Feedback, because people will endorse your business if they know it is good. Besides, if you don’t know what your customer thinks about you, your business, your product and your services… then you might as well throw in the towel. This is also one of the best ways to find weaknesses in your system, and to develop solutions to fix them.

• Now that you’ve got some feedback, it’s time to take it a step further and personalize your services for the customers who deserve it. This is not the boom era of 10 years ago, and you must give your best customers the terms they have earned by working with you. One-size fits all is only good for limited applications when you’re dealing with a valued customer’s loyalty, and if the other customers want to be part of that inner circle, then they’re going to have to work for it.

• Keeping in touch with your customers is about maintaining relationships. You didn’t really need me to tell you that, did you? Customers keep buying from you if you have a strong relationship with you, and if they trust you and your product or service. Keeping in touch means… keeping in touch! Don’t rely on faxes, emails, and automated responses with your A-list customers. Call them yourself. Visit them. Share a success story about one of the referrals they’ve led you to.

• While you’re thanking them for the referral, make sure to reinforce that kind of behavior by offering something special to show your sincere appreciation. Whether it’s a card, a bottle of wine, or an invite to an industry event, you will make a real impression if you show up at your customer’s doorstep with the sole intention of thanking them for something… without a sales pitch.

• A loyalty program might be in order, too. Try some strategies like offering preferable rates for loyal customers, bonus products or services if they have bought before, programs that promote multiple purchases (BOGO, volume discounts, etc.), points-accumulation programs… you get the drift.

• Find out and understand the switching costs for your customers. These often include tangible costs such as dollars, people, equipment, and procedures… as well as less tangible costs like potential business disruption or increased personal risk to stakeholders. If your customers are downsizing or under strong pressure to cut back on capital investments and find lower-cost long-term solutions, then you can be the one to offer the solutions to them before they come up with their own.

• Don’t assume that the other guys know what you’re worth. You may feel that you are doing great, and things couldn’t be better between you and your valued customer… until they drop you for another supplier. What happened? You didn’t ask, that’s what happened. Don’t be shy to get answers about how valuable you are to your customers, because they aren’t always going to give you that kind of ammo voluntarily.

• Take a hard look at how customers use your product or service offering. If customers consider you to be nothing more than a commodity, then you may be at great risk down the road. You don’t want to be dropped like a bad habit, without causing some kind of perceptible loss! Assess your product’s impact… how do they buy it, use it, dispose of it, or re-order it at the end the usage cycle? Can you dig in and link-up to the customer’s ordering and purchasing procedures? Can you offer some new and valuable solutions for replacing or recycling? Make ‘em sorry to lose you!

• Last but surely not least… make sure you are performing at the highest level to meet customer requirements, at least. This is a big topic in and of itself, and it’s really up to you to determine what your customer wants and needs from you at all times.

These tips should launch you on the right path, if you’re not already doing these things… and solidify your relationships with customers who are looking for a partner who can provide the best of everything that matters. Good luck, and grab another cup of coffee as you continue to Find it. Source it. Profit!