As a youngster growing up, we raised chickens. Mostly so we would have a steady stream of eggs to help feed our family of nine! Periodically, my dad and granddad would decide it was time to stock the freezer with some chickens. So, we chopped their heads off, cleaned them, and put them in the freezer so we could have a “chicken in every pot.”
However, when we killed these chickens, they no longer laid eggs, so now we needed to get more chickens that will lay eggs! We would go buy a hundred baby chicks, and proceed to feed them for six months or more before they lay any eggs. In the meantime, you are spending money feeding them and taking care of them.
Can you imagine what happens to your customers when you “chop their heads off” figuratively? In other words, if your customer doesn’t feel they are being treated well, it’s the equivalent of killing them as a customer. When you “kill” a customer, by ruining the relationship, they quit doing business with you. This means that customers becomes one-time, short-term nourishment. Take care of them continuously and they will “feed” you for years.
When you take care of your chickens, they will produce an additional 10 chickens that will do the very same thing for you. The cycle never ends if you take care of your chickens. The same holds true for your customers!
According to Insight Squared:
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- 12 positive experiences are needed to make up for one unresolved negative experience.
- 48% who have an undesirable experience tell 10+ people about it.
- For every complaint, there are 26 more customers who say nothing.
- 82% who switched companies said the company could have done something to keep them from leaving
- 88% of consumers are influenced by online reviews before choosing a company.
When you choose to take care of your customers, this is what you can get in return:
- 52% have made more purchases from a company after having a good customer service experience.
- 58% will spend more on companies that provide excellent customer service.
- A loyal customer is worth up to 10 times as much as his or her first purchase. (In a restaurant, it could be 100 times as much)!
- 80% of your future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing customers.
Your customers are not unlike these chickens. Nurture them and they produce over and over for you – kill them off and you don’t get anything else from them.
Are they going to be a one-time customer, or are you going to take care of them and keep them happy for life? Since it costs six to seven times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain one, it seems prudent to do everything you can to keep your customers happy!
Author: Dick Wagner Nationally recognized marketing coach and consultant.
