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Customers are your business... your only business

Tom Peters and Robert Waterman , the authors of "In Search Of Excellence" and numerous other business books, have developed a formula to figure the true value of a customer.

Take the average purchase, and frequency, and calculate how much that customer could purchase in a year, if all purchases of this product were made with you. Multiply that number by 10, and you get the value of that customer.

For example a family might spend $150,000 for automobiles using this formula. Isn't this customer worth spending time and money on to keep loyal?

Yet, few businesses devote much attention, time or money to keeping customers. They spend tremendous amounts on advertising to attract new customers, but let the old ones slip away almost as fast the new ones come in.

There should be at least as much effort, time and money invested towards building a long-term relationship with past customers as is spent on attracting new ones.

Why customers quit:

3 percent Close

5 percent Other friendships

9 percent Competitive-reasons

14 percent Product Dissatisfaction

68 percent Indifference towards customer by an employee or employees

You can't do anything about the first three percent, and little about the five. Almost all marketing effort by business is devoted to competing for that 9 percent who are likely to switch in response to ads or better bargain prices. TQM and other quality measures are devoted to convincing just 14 percent to stay. Yet how many businesses work hard at the changes necessary to eliminate 68 percent of the reason for switching?

Most people stop buying for diverse reasons. One is certainly price, but it's often not the critical issue. More often than not, the customer does not feel that he or she is understood, or that their needs are fully appreciated and served. By showing them that their best interests are also yours, you endear, engage and integrate yourself with current, past and future customers at a level you won’t believe.

How to keep more customers
Industrial Research Services Customer Satisfaction Programs

Here's a statement uttered by customers every day: "We're perfectly happy with who we're buying from and we wouldn't consider switching."

We can’t help you answer that objection, but we can help you have more of your customers say it to your competitors.

Industrial Research Services div. of SMART SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY INC. has the skill and experience to deliver an objective and competitive assessment of your performance as perceived by your customers.

We’ll help you:

Identify Issues Critical to Customers
Measure Customer Satisfaction
Benchmark Against Your Competition
Assist in Strategy Development
Monitor Tactical Effectiveness

If you require a single campaign or a business building long-range program, Industrial Research Services will take the same customized approach.

Identify issues critical to customers
The first step in the process is to pinpoint the purchase decision issues for current and potential customers. Also, determining customers' ranking of the importance of these issues is a significant aspect of our customer satisfaction programs.

We’ll begin by talking to your most recent customers. First impressions are lasting. How many times have you walked out of a restaurant shaking your head in disgust at the terrible service and indifferent attitude? You vow never to return, and tell everyone you know about the bad experience.

Likewise, how about being "wowed" by the pampered treatment you might have received elsewhere? Those feelings also linger with your customers.

We’ll help you assess what kind of first impression you and your products or services have made. You’ll build upon the good and have the opportunity to correct the not so good. You’ll have laid the foundation for a long and mutually beneficial relationship.

Measuring customer satisfaction
You can improve only what you can measure. Combining the information collected from your recent customers with information collected from long-time and lost customers will give you an accurate tool by which you can measure performance.

We’ll ask them why they continue buying. Or why they quit. This is so incredibly simple, yet it's rarely used by companies. What you might think is a great benefit of doing business with your company could be meaningless to your customer; they might buy for a totally unrelated reason.

Industrial Research Services

Your dry cleaner might like to believe they get your business because they do superb work and have competitive prices. But you use them because they’re close to your office. They, in all probability, have never asked.

We’ll ask your customers, then we’ll tell them that you want to make sure you continue providing them what they want. We’ll learn what is it they like best about doing business with you, and, what else they would like to see. Not only will this help you build your relationship, it's information that can help you with your other customers as well.

Benchmark against the competition
What your customers think about your competitors is just as important as what they think about your company. Assessment of competitor performance allows you to benchmark your company and develop solid improvements.

The next component in your program should include "shopping the competition". We’ll talk to people you know are the competitions' customers who you’ve had the occasion to deal with.

And, we do it openly and right up-front. We ask them forthrightly, what do they like about your competitor's business? Why do they do business with them? What do they think about the product or service or the people?

The answers to questions like these will help you fortify the strongest parts of your own business and help you start beefing-up the areas that are weak. It can also show you weaknesses in your competitors' ways of doing things that you might be able to profitably exploit.

Assisting in strategy development
If your objectives are long term, not only do we provide usable information, but we work closely with you to develop and implement strategies to build on strengths, correct deficiencies and improve overall competitive standings.

Monitor strategy effectiveness
By asking your customers questions on a continuous basis, you get the bonus benefit of bonding yourself to customers at a higher level than your competitors can ever imagine. More important, when you lose sales either to people who don't purchase or people who used to purchase and stopped--you can almost always regenerate or salvage that business.

Every company benefits from feedback from their customers, potential customers and lost customers. Our Customer Satisfaction Program can be an on-going process of customer contact, problem identification, and solution provision. The goal is to keep you in touch with those most critical to your success, your customers . The flow diagram below illustrates this process:

Customer Satisfaction Program Plan
IRS Critical Issue and Customer Satisfaction Interviewing
IRS Delivery of Findings to You
Your Customer Satisfaction Actions
IRS Customer Satisfaction Monitoring
IRS Delivery of Findings to you
Better Customer Relations, More Business, Customer Referrals,
Higher Profits

Customer satisfaction benefits

Increase and retain your current customer base
It costs far more to win new customers than it does to keep existing ones. That is why it is important to ensure you are aware of your customers’ needs and concerns. You need to know if your customers have any concerns that may result in them leaving. By using our Customer Satisfaction Program, you will have the ability to address any customer concerns before they become critical to the relationship.

Another opportunity to promote your company
Every contact you have with your customer increases their awareness of your company and keeps you at the top of that customer’s mind. Additionally, as a result of this contact, the relationship with the customer is strengthened and your organization's image is enhanced.

Improve your company image
By employing our Customer Satisfaction Program you demonstrate to your customers that you are concerned with their satisfaction . This projects a positive image that will not only be appreciated by your customers but will also be communicated within their sphere of influence. A significant portion of your new business could come from these referrals.

Timely results
Timely results are of the utmost importance in maintaining customer satisfaction. Our systems, polices, and procedures deliver results quickly and efficiently. We have the flexibility and experience to interface with your organization at any level and the technology to communicate our findings in whatever format you choose.

Act Quickly. What you don’t know does hurt
One of the most important assets of your company is your customer base. As markets become more competitive, you must do more to attract, satisfy and keep your customers. Knowing exactly what your customers expect and catering to those expectations, while monitoring your market position, will put you ahead of the competition.

We Guarantee It!

1.724.224.5380 today for a
FREE no-obligation consultation

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