Don't ignore loyal customers

By KATIE TAYLOR FOR MAILONLINE
Updated:

 

Recruiting customers is the key to growth, but small firms rely on existing clients for survival when the economy gets rough.

Jason Scott

Jason Scott: 'Don't take customers for granted'

Yet in a recent Orange SMS Business Jury survey, 10% of small firms admitted they would be targeting their competitors' customers as part of a recession survival plan.

According to Paul Cooper, strategy director at the Institute of Customer Service, that could be a costly mistake.

'It costs up to ten times as much to find new customers as it does to retain those you already have,' he says.

'Also, in focusing on finding new customers, you risk ignoring or become complacent about your existing ones. And when standards of service fall, they simply go elsewhere.

When times are tough, firms cannot afford to lose customer loyalty.' However, some businesses insist that shifting markets have forced them to seek new customers.

Men's tailor Brook Taverner in Keighley, West Yorkshire, was established almost a century ago and supplies more than 1,500 independent retailers across the UK and Europe.

It has built its reputation and client base on careful pricing, product quality and customer service.

The firm also supplies major retail chains and it is trying to build up this side of its business.

Director Jason Scott says: 'If we are to survive, we have to find ways of attracting customers by adding an e-commerce site and launching a new made-to-measure tailoring service, for example, while keeping existing customers engaged.

'Men are loyal. Once they've found a design, a brand and a fabric they like, they tend to stick with it. But you can never take that for granted and in difficult times you have to focus on personal service and making your customers feel valued.'

The company, which turns over £17 million a year and employs 90 workers, has also invested in customer service training for staff, a move that Cooper says will reap dividends.

'Customers are loyal to people, not brands, and will forgive mistakes if properly dealt with,' he says.

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