Originally Published On PR.com

Customers are the backbone of every business. Before winning lifetime brand advocates for one’s products and services, it is important to have an effective strategy that engages new customers first so they return and buy from the same brand again.

According to a recent Direct Selling Executives Forum episode, the business industry is now at a crossroads where competition is no longer only with fellow direct sales companies but also with solopreneurs and influencers. It is a pivotal time for businesses to up their game in maintaining customer relationships to ensure brand loyalty and retention.

But how exactly does one create a culture that attracts and retains customers in the field?

Awareness of Customer Experience

Companies have to understand where their retail customers are at, what they are doing, and how they are shopping. Beyond the product being sold, it is the actual experience customers go through that draws them back to the business.

The best way to promote a brand is still through word-of-mouth stories from a customers’ first-hand experience. From the navigation of the website to the placing of orders and communication, executives in the forum agree that awareness of the real customer experience is a top principle business owners must never neglect. If customers are not impressed with the buying or subscription process, to begin with, owners risk losing repeat customers along the way.

An accurate way for businesses to identify their real customer experience score is by taking the Net Promoter Score (NPS) Survey. However, NaXum CEO Ben Dixon shares that if companies are not big enough to have people in charge of conducting the survey and reviewing feedback, a weekly brainstorming of what customer experience feels like to a new fan makes a difference too.

Taking Action on Customer Feedback

Collecting feedback is only the first step towards brand loyalty. Companies need to learn to translate the insights they gather into actionable steps too.

Ben challenges owners to think: “How are you gathering this information and are you taking action on what it is telling you?”A business might have experts in the team but professional knowledge will not be as valuable to one’s business performance as the feedback from the people who interact with the business.

Extreme Ownership on Communication

More than relying on technology for automated communication, another solid customer retention strategy mentioned in the forum is to develop a proactive and extended customer service experience. Sending a report to the field is not enough.

“First, think of responsibility. The expectations from a representative are getting so much shorter because it’s shifting to the corporate team,” Ben explains. “Your support team, even when they’re not receiving the call, should be making an outbound call on whose subscription did not go through.”

This kind of extreme ownership of one’s business leaves a mark on customers and gives them more reason to trust the company.
 

About Ben

Ben Dixon loves referral marketing. His family found direct sales back in 2006 and had success using technology to create home-based businesses. Since 2010, Ben has focused on serving referral marketing, party plan, and direct sales companies across the globe with the technology they require to empower their passionate fans to virally grow their businesses.

To see episodes from the Direct Selling Executives Forum, visit our YouTube channel
 

Contact

NaXum

Ben Dixon

713-867-7999

www.naxum.com