‘Tis the season. Even if after the Thanksgiving Day holiday, it’s never too late to say thank you. Consumers appreciate feeling valued by service providers. Not only does customer appreciation increase client retention, but it leads to more referrals as well. Since 68% of clients leave businesses due to “perceived indifference”, it’s especially important for business professionals pay attention and show gratitude to clients.
Plan or Enhance a Customer Appreciation Strategy
A critical starting point is to set aside 15-20 minutes to think through a new or enhanced strategy. Indeed, taking a little time to plan will make an effective customer appreciation strategy easier it execute. Start with a timeline. By starting with your current sales process, it’s easier to implement natural opportunities for gratitude towards the client. Some examples of easy appreciation activities are:
- Send an email, text message, or note to say “thank you” after a sale.
- Call clients after a week, month, or quarter of using your product or service to check in and say thanks.
- Thank clients for their business after each additional sale or service opportunity.
- Record client service anniversaries and send a card or call them on the phone to thank them.
Identify Opportunities for Unique Client Appreciation Opportunities
In addition to working customer appreciation strategies into your sales process, find dedicated opportunities to make clients feel valued. Client Appreciation events don’t need to be fancy to be effective. Indeed, simple events like a snow cone or ice cream event in the summer or hot cocoa or coffee bar in the winter. Even small gives can be enough to show clients they are appreciated.
Further, things like physical notes can elevate customer service. If you don’t already produce a holiday card, now is the time to start. Whether a general winter holiday or harvest theme, outreach during the holidays is a keystone of any client appreciation program. Similarly, small gifts can be effective too. If you have the ability to give a discount or coupon, that is an effective way to show gratitude. Other small gives could include things like:
- Candy
- Packets of flower or vegetable seeds
- Coupons or discounts to local businesses (car wash, bakery, etc.)
If any of your clients own a business, highlight them in your office or in a blog or social media post.
Make Your Sales Process a Breeze
Another great way to show appreciation to clients is to improve your sales and support processes. Start with informal chats with top customers to review how your sales and/or service process could improve. Then, evaluate how to incorporate their suggestions. Not only does this improve the customer experience, it might help streamline your processes and save time as well. An easy way to streamline your sales process and announce customer appreciation events is to leverage a tool like CardTapp. Consider introducing the new process and app with a drawing for current clients. As an example: anyone who installs the app is entered into a drawing for a prize.