Customers are the cheapest means of advertising your small business

Smart small business owners have long realised that their customers are their most reliable and cheapest way of getting ahead of competition. If you don’t use your customers to attract more businesses, your competitors will use your existing customers to sink your business.

Brand loyalty is not easy to be built but can be done if simple business basics are adhered to. You will be amazed how the simple act of going back to the basics will not only ensure that you remain in business as a small business owner but will ensure that you grow your business.

This article is all about the basics on how to attract customers and use them to attract even more customers.

3 simple ways of turning your customers into advertising agent

1. Ask: if you don’t ask, you won’t get. No matter how royal you think your customers are, if you do not ask for their feedback, they won’t bother give it. You don’t stop at asking for their feedback but you also need to encourage them to put forward the good words to their loved ones. One of my clients chose to go with the phrase “if you are proud of us, encourage others to join you; if there is anything you don’t like, tell us how we can improve it”
2. Acknowledge/Appreciate: it is important that you show appreciation and acknowledge the good work of you existing customers. This can only be possible if a business makes it easy for loyal customers to let them know that they have referred a customer to them. I know a business that take time to ask every new customer if they have been referred by anyone, if yes, they would take the contact of the referrer and appreciate them simply sending a thank you note. This will be viewed as excellent customer care service by the recipient of such thank you letter.
3. Measure: what you don’t measure; you cannot control. While still working within the confines of the privacy laws and regulations, records of customers that have been referred and those that referred them should be kept in a safe place. These data contain valuable information that management can use to gain business intelligence.

Notice that you don’t have to break the bank before this objective can be achieved as none of the simple techniques discussed here requires you to give money to the customer. This is that the 3 ways we have talked about in this article are not the traditional monetary incentivized approach. All that is required is dedication, discipline and a little bit planning. The ideas shared in this article have helped many struggling small businesses turn around their fortunes.

A family business that adopts the tips discussed in this post tends to survive the test of time. Remember that one of the most powerful emotions that drive our spending habit is recommendation from someone we can trust. Your customers have people that look up to them for direction, tap into this gold mine and see yourself smiling to the bank.