The Hidden Power of Your Customers: Four Keys to Growing Your Business Through Existing Customers

MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF CUSTOMER STRATEGY

So far in this chapter, we have looked at several aspects of measuring the success of a customer strategy. At a minimum, it is important to monitor how the answers to the following questions are affecting the success of your company's customer strategy:

• How many customers did we keep from last year? Do you know? Many businesses find that they are good at tracking new customers but lose sight of those who “slip out the back.”
• If we lost customers, why? Ideally, you will conduct this analysis each time you lose a customer—reach out immediately and find out what went wrong. By doing this religiously, you may be able to salvage some of these valuable relationships.
• Why do our best customers keep doing business with us? Ask them! Find out whether it's your offerings, your service, your people, or all of the above. It will help to prioritize where to focus your improvements, as well as to identify what to keep on doing. It may also highlight potential areas of concern for certain clients.
• How many of our loyal customers can help us sell more? Existing customers can do this for us in many ways: buying additional products or services themselves, referring our company to others, and sharing testimonials about their great customer experiences. When is the last time you asked a customer for a testimonial? Make doing so a regular part of doing business!

Treating the Customer as an Asset

Incredibly, many companies today still measure their customer ...