The Best Customers are Recurring Customers
At its heart, business is about people. You have a person with a problem: your customer. And you have a person with a solution: your employee. Connecting those two is where the magic happens, and once that connection is made, you can rely on it to bring customers back time and time again.
When it comes to making the kind of connection that turns customers into recurring customers, CRM (customer relationship management), is key. A good CRM system provides tools for gathering information about prospects and current clients, and it makes analyzing the data simple so you can put it to use right away. Essentially, you need a system that is both excellent at collecting the data you require and offering tools for quick, reliable analysis, making it possible to deliver the best customer service in the business.
Using CRM to Create Loyalty
While there are plenty of reasons to invest in a CRM project for your company, one major impetus is to find ways to boost customer loyalty. A CRM system, such as SugarCRM, drives customer loyalty from the inside out. The more you learn about your customers, the more you can customize the buying experience and provide support after the sale.
Customers are loyal when they feel as though your business really understands their needs and problems. Enhancing productivity and improving efficiency with a CRM system gives your employees more time to spend with customers and ensures that they make the most of the time they have during each encounter. The idea is to focus directly on each customer, giving personalized service that drives repeat visits and builds loyalty.
The knowledge that your employees know their preferences and desires makes customers trust your business to deliver what they need when they need it. Great customer service makes your team stand out as the best in the business, which ensures that customers won’t just come back the next time they need something—they will also bring friends and family in to do business with you, too.
An effective CRM system also encourages the development of long-term customer relationships. You can use the data you collect to learn the best time to reach out to a particular customer and their preferred method of contact.
Building the Right Kind of Expertise
In the past, you might have operated under the idea that customers want your employees to be product experts. Consumers often came into your business, knowing little about what you offer and needing expert advice to make the right choice for their needs. But in the modern digital age, that isn’t the main concern for customers anymore.
Most consumers spend time researching products online before making a purchase, so your employees don’t need to explain the basics or describe the pros and cons of different brands.
When it comes to employee training, this means the rules have changed. What you need now are people experts—or customer experts—not product experts.
Customer experts focus on the consumer experience from the first impression to the final sale. A salesperson who knows the consumer will have a clear view of that person’s transaction history, preferences, needs, and attitude. Employees who are customer experts get to the heart of the matter quickly and solve problems your customers bring up—and even problems they don’t.
When it comes to using a CRM system for this kind of deep insight into your customer’s needs, Sugar Sell and Sugar Serve provides the data that drives good decisions. You can use this information to figure out how to nudge prospects to the next part of your sales funnel or address potential problems before they get overwhelming. Your customer service agents can understand the historical context of a customer’s issue, and your sales team can get more specific about targeting prior customers for future sales. Use your CRM system to log and analyze all points of contact with customers so that every interaction is attuned to their unique needs.
Recurring Customers and Business Success
In times of economic uncertainty, new customer acquisition is more challenging and places a significant emphasis on having recurring customers. One of the big reasons recurring customers are essential for business success is that they give you a steady source of income when they return to make later purchases. Even more important is that they become brand ambassadors, spreading the word about your business and encouraging others to choose you as well. Loyal recurring customers make posts about you on social media and leave reviews online, so you get free, organic advertising.
When you harness customer loyalty and advocacy, incorporating it into the DNA of your business, you build a different kind of business model than legacy businesses that just focus on “one and done” sales. Recurring customers and brand loyalty turn your business into a movement, not just a company interchangeable with others in your industry.
Customers who return multiple times are so valuable that you need to have an efficient way to track their consumer behavior and plan for their future buying sessions. CRM initiatives let you implement programs to reward customers for their loyalty and craft individualized sales pitches that hit right at the heart of what those customers secretly want most.
Modern CRM for the Recurring Customer Economy
Because customer loyalty is so important, you need to include it as a consideration for your next CRM initiative. Modern CRM systems help your sales staff close on deals and helps your customer service representatives deliver extraordinary customer service, so everyone who buys from you gets a stellar customer experience.
Modern CRM systems accomplish all of this with easy-to-use apps and insightful analytics. In fact, with SugarCRM, you get real-time data that you can use to improve customer interactions and insights into data patterns that help you and your employees know what to do next. Predictive Forecasting delivers historical and predictive analysis to give you those insights that capture consumer attention and keep current customers coming back for more.
Contact us online or give us a call to learn more about how SugarCRM can help you build a stream of recurring customers with loyalty to your brand that lasts a lifetime.
