Survey Advantage Press

Without getting long winded on this issue, membership retention communications starts with truly understanding their opinion on a regular basis rather than when renewals go out. I may be biased toward the survey model, but I have seen this as very effective if resources are dedicated to watching for those answering neutral or negative on questions relating to future action such as rejoining, recommending, or overall value of the association. This can be done on your typical annual assessment, but it isn’t timely.  Short, 5 question surveys delivered after transactions, events, or any experience can uncover their feeling about the association at that moment. Why not address a membership need 6 months before renewal or right after a horrible experience so you can make it right immediately? Response time on issues is what helps retention, plus understanding what the expectations are and delivering on them.

Associations that understand membership needs and then hone their offerings to fit like a glove have the highest retention rates.  Not rocket science, but just throwing stuff out there without assessing the value is a mistake.

I am probably stating the obvious, but hopefully it helps someone.     Back to the coffee.     Take care,

Many of us are timid to ask our most loyal customers for referrals.  We feel uncomfortable asking or don’t want to alienate an already loyal customer.  Sometimes we feel the loyalty may go down by being direct and asking the question “Do you know someone we could help as we help you?” 

A more subtle way to capture referrals is to tie the request for referrals into a customer feedback survey.  The way it works is that you send a customer a very short five question survey after your complete a job, complete a service, or ship a product.  One of the questions asks the ultimate question “How likely are you to recommend us to a colleague, friend, or family member?”  For all customers who click “Very Likely”,  you now know they are loyal, love you, are passionate about what you do for them, and are the customers most likely to recommend you.  They have self qualified themselves!  At that point when they click submit on the survey you direct them to a landing page to highlight your referral program along with any gift you want to offer.  It is that simple.  I have seen up to 5% of those filling out the survey offering referrals to help their supplier or vendor.  What an opportunity!   Just don’t forget to call them or thank them for the referral.  It is only common courtesy and it will feed the referral process.  

Just last week a small printer closed a $1,000 initial order with a referral by using this process and the newly acquired customer appears to be ready to give them future orders for other printing needs.  This process isn’t just for printers, but can work with insurance agencies, any service organization or business that relies on referrals to grow and prosper. 

So, don’t leave your loyal customers just buying from you.  Engage them in the selling process and expand your selling force.

This weekend a colleague asked a myself and a few fellow business owners if our customers were asking for discounts after work was complete. His customers were telling him they could pay him immediately if he took another 20% off the bill or he would need to wait for payment. This is for work he already had done!! With the recession he added that his closure rates on bids went from 50% to under 10% and he was desperate. He is in a competitive, commodity market, but something isn’t right here. He is taking the 20% off the bills and discounting, but his business is not doing well. You could see the worry on his face and I am sure the customers are as well.

I suggest if customers are asking for discounts that you change the scope and give options. Give three different scopes of work with three different price points, but then hold firm on the work being done. You must do this to stay healthy and your customers should respect this. People love options and the customer will understand that with options there are varying levels of product.

There are typically three things to look at with any project scope; price, timeframe, and quality. Keep to these three sides of the triangle when bidding and discussing jobs with customers.

Before finding yourself in an unprofitable situation, the best businesses find ways to differentiate themselves and offer unique and special services and products. Customers will be happy and your business will remain healthy.