"There are three 'R' words—retention, repurchase and referral—that can help your company survive and thrive during the 'R' word that's plaguing our economy, the recession," says Deborah Eastman in a guest post at the Daily Fix blog. Here's why:

Retention. Retaining your customers is a profitable exercise. Eastman cites a Forrester study that contains an interesting FedEx discovery: improving customer retention by one percent netted an impressive $100 million in revenues.

Repurchase. "A recent report by the CMO Council found that of the organizations queried, 76 percent weren’t fully realizing the revenue of current customers," she notes. By surpassing the expectations of your established client list, and demonstrating the breadth of your capabilities, you can do more than simply secure another sale—you might increase the size of the purchase.

Referral. Positive word-of-mouth is cash in your pocket. A Satmatrix study of the wireless telephone industry found that referrals accounted for half of new customer acquisitions, each worth an average of $1,700.

The Po!nt: Learn this key lesson: "Focusing on customer loyalty is more important than ever," says Eastman. A positive consumer experience will benefit your company now—and customers will remember you when the upturn begins.

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