Your Best Customers: Treat Them Well!

There are so many conferences, articles and books out about CRM (Customer Relationship Management). It seems like all these marketers are learning great strategies about how they should be treating customers…so why aren’t companies that I deal with treating me any better?

• In the last 12 months I spent over $1,000 with the Hanes Place catalog. (I know, I can’t find a pair that doesn’t rip!) With all this money I’m spending you’d think they’d be a little nice to me once in a while – maybe free shipping…or, an extra pair of pantyhose…but, I get nada.
• I noticed back when all these companies were fighting for my long distance business there was lots of action going on. Checks were flying in, promises of frequent flyer miles, I still get tons of calls…but now that I’m a customer I don’t get any attention. The company I said “yes” to ignores me.
• In a typical week, I get at least 5 mailings from banks offering various services – business accounts, personal accounts, credit cards, lines of credit, etc. – yet, I never hear from the banks where I already have accounts…except for the sleepy little statement stuffers.
• Speaking of banks, I have an account at Citibank and they used to have a special window for priority customers – it was so great. I never had to wait too long and I felt special. But they took the window away and now I stand on line with the minions of other people. I think the worst part is that they gave it and then they took it away – you just can’t do that. The branch also used to have this nice big table that we all used to write deposit slips…but they got rid of that also and stuck in this little skinny one. It’s really hard balancing a purse, briefcase, and trying to compete for a bit of space on the new table. I can tell – they don’t really want any of us to bank with live tellers. Since the line got so long they put up a little TV with CNN playing. It’s small compensation for losing the special window.

From what I can tell, most companies treat all their customers pretty much the same. New customers get treated like old customers, (actually new subscribers often get a better rates than renewals!) and a company’s very best customers get treated “just like everyone else.

It’s not good. It makes no sense.

We’ve been talking about targeting for years –special offers, special lists, selective binding – but, perhaps the most important group to be targeting are your very best customers. The numbers haven’t changed. As a rule of thumb, 20% of your customer base represents 80% of your revenues. This 20% is the customer segment that is most worthy of our attention. So, let’s not forget about them, give them lesser offers or a smaller counter to lean on.

Customers are not equal and your best customers should be remembered, rewarded, and romanced. This brings up two important points:

• First, you need to know your database…to identify your best customers and know who they are. We recently went through this process with one of our clients, a B2B. We did a value analysis model and the findings were interesting and much different than the client expected. While they thought their typical clients were smaller companies, most had 49+ employees. Furthermore, the SIC codes were not what was anticipated. The highest value customers were in SIC codes that they client has never even promoted to!

• The second point is that before you can begin to reward customers you need to know how much is the “allowable.” Your allowable is the dollar value that you pay for incremental business. This is the amount of money you can afford to spend marketing to bring in an order, without losing money. We recently did some work with an overseas educational company and we recommended that they waive shipping and handling charges for people who bought several books. The company said they couldn’t afford it – but once we figured out the allowable, they saw that they couldn’t afford not to!

Here are just some of the ways you can reward your best customers:

Thank you
You can send it separately or just put it on the invoice. But a “thank you” is different that a note confirming your order and it means something. If it’s followed up with a token of appreciation, well that’s even better.

Special “inside offers”
Giving your best customers more than just what’s left over from the sale rack is key.

Free shipping and handling
Shipping and handling charges are a real bummer – give your best customers a break once in a while and they’ll make it worth your while.

Free samples
Everyone loves free samples. And, while creating all kinds of good feelings, they also expose your products to people who might not already be using them.

Rewards Programs.
Rewards programs are great for your best customers. If I need to fly to St. Louis, I’ll try to do it on American so I can get my points. And I’ll keep on using MCI for more points and my Visa Advantage Card for more!

Little things mean a lot…to customers and everyone else in your life. I am just so giddy when a company does something nice because they appreciate my business. A little mug from amazon.com, a note from 1800flowers thanking me for being a great customer and giving me flowers. Everyone wants to be valued. Make sure your best customers know they are important to you.
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LOIS K. GELLER, President of Mason & Geller Direct Marketing, is the author of RESPONSE! The Complete Guide to Profitable Direct Marketing.