Any business is, first of all, customers. Because the level of sales, the level of profitability and overall efficiency depend on them, or rather, on their availability and loyalty. Consistency of customers is one of the cornerstones of business stability. To how to work with regular customers, an entrepreneur should be given special, close and equally constant attention. There are many effective ways to make a customer permanent.

Regular customer

An entrepreneur must remember that a regular customer is not only a stable source of income, when loyal customers come to his store every day, buy products and goods from him, leaving their money, respectively.

It is also necessary to remember the universal rule - “Pareto Rule” (“Pareto Principle”, “Pareto Law” the names may vary), named after an Italian engineer, economist and sociologist. In general terms, it is formulated as follows: “20% of the efforts yield 80% of the result. The remaining 80% of the effort gives the remaining 20% \u200b\u200bof the result. ” This rule is universal for different spheres of human activity.

In business, in particular in retail, this rule is formulated as follows: 20% of buyers give 80% of the store’s revenue. The rest of the revenue in the amount of 20% of the total volume is achieved by purchases from 80% of buyers. Among the latter there may be, for example, occasional, rare visitors coming into the store from case to case, etc.

Interesting:

Of course, among those 20% of buyers who provide 80% of the store’s income and profits, there may also be random people. But, most likely, the majority are nonetheless regular customers.

In this regard, the entrepreneur’s task is to ensure that the largest buyers, providing the largest part of his income and profits, become his regular customers. To do this, it is necessary to carry out special work, implement and implement measures aimed at making them permanent.

How to make a customer permanent

In fact, there are a lot of ways to do this. In general, the customer will become a regular when, again and again, he will come to your store:

Nice, he will receive moral satisfaction.

Returning to your store and over and over again making purchases is beneficial to him in material terms, that is, in terms of money. The main tool for this is discounts to customers.

Specific ways to make the customer permanent:

1. Regular customers discounts. This is a kind of purchase of their loyalty. Discounts to customers for permanence can be issued in various ways, there are many of them.

For example, a loyalty card that gives a discount on every next purchase. This is perhaps the most common way. Such cards can be different: simple, "gold", etc., they differ mainly in the size of the discount.

Usually this is from 5% on simple cards to 20% and even 30% for VIP customers who leave significant amounts of money in the store, so an entrepreneur has the opportunity without any harm to himself to give him such a significant discount.

Such a loyal customer card can be personalized, issued for a particular person, personalized is usually done for the owner of large discounts. It can be bearer, that is, without indicating the name of the owner.
Find out,

The last bearer customer card is also beneficial in that it expands the number of customers, including regular ones, when a circle of people - friends, relatives, colleagues of the owner of this card - uses one card with an insignificant but pleasant discount.

2. Bonuses and gifts constant for each subsequent purchase. For this, a loyal customer card can also be issued.

3. "Cash Back" - cash back, if you translate this term into Russian. To do this, a plastic card is issued like a card with a discount, which is credited with the amount of money or points from each purchase. He will subsequently spend the accumulated money and points on the next purchase.

For example, a person bought goods in a store for 5,000 rubles, and “Cash Back” on his card is 5%. So 250 rubles automatically after purchase and payment will be credited to his card. In other words, the store will return to him from the amount of payment these 250 rubles.

Having accumulated a certain amount, he can make another purchase, which in fact will be free for him. Well, and accordingly, in order to save up for such a free next purchase, the buyer will have to at least temporarily become a regular customer of this store.

4. Coalition events. This is when several businesses that are not competitors to each other, as they work in different fields, are combined in such a way that a person buying a product at any point in the coalition gets a discount.

A coalition can form, for example, a fitness club, a sportswear store, a sports store, and a sports and healthy food store.

Another very popular example of coalition programs is special bank cards. By issuing a specific card in a bank, a person gets the opportunity to buy goods and services in a large number of shops, salons, etc., which are served in this bank. Such a system is beneficial to all participants: the buyer receives a discount on the purchase, stores receive discounts on services at the bank, and the bank receives current assets in the form of money from organizations that are serviced by this bank.

5. It is necessary constantly keep up to date: news, promotions, etc. If the purchase or customer’s order assumes that it will not be completed immediately, but in stages, it is necessary to inform about the state of affairs at each stage of the execution of the order. For example, during the delivery of goods to the buyer, it is important to know where right now, at this point in time, is the goods purchased (ordered) by him.

6. With buyers need be always honest and open. Even if something does not work out during the execution of the order, you need to talk about it openly and frankly, without hiding. This is especially important when working with those customers who are already regular, so as not to lose them. An entrepreneur will have to learn honesty himself, as well as teach his managers and specialists.

8. The buyer will return to you when he is satisfied service level. This applies in particular to the courtesy of salespeople, managers and consultants. They should always be in sight, but not intrusive.

Of course, the seller must be competent and ready to answer any (within reasonable and adequate limits) questions of the buyer.

The above methods to make the client permanent are not the only ones - there are many of them. It all depends on the specific type of business, on what exactly is being sold, where it is being sold, on specific conditions.

Different methods can be effective for a long time. Some may show effectiveness only for a certain time. Therefore, the entrepreneur also needs to carry out work to measure effectiveness: how much and what result has given this or that measure to increase loyalty. The fact is that, if you get carried away with meeting the needs of the client, you may not notice how some activities can start to bring only loss.

Two-step sales [Practical recommendations] Parabellum Andrey Alekseevich

Appendix 6 Love your client as yourself! Work with regular and key customers

Appendix 6

Love your client as yourself! Work with regular and key customers

Large customers are welcome guests of any company. Working with them is very different from the usual sales, it has a lot of subtleties and pitfalls that you can learn about either from your mistakes or by reading an interview with Evgeny Kolotilov, one of the leading Russian key account management specialists (key-account management) .

Each company has a pool of regular customers. How to highlight the key among them?

Key customers can be clearly identified by a number of signs. Now I will list them.

Volume of sales. If one of the regular customers starts to bring you more than 10% of sales, then this is a key customer. Suppose there are 200 customers in a company, and one of their sales accounted for 10% (or more). We take care of such a client - the key one - with particular zeal, develop loyalty programs with him, make friends, blow dust off him, assign him a separate manager.

The head of the seller, too (if the size of the company allows it) should visit this client from time to time and be up to date with him. Here the idea is this: you need to be friends not only with the purchasing manager of the buyer company, but also with many of its other employees. If the person with whom you communicate suddenly changes, then your contacts with the owner, general director and accountant of this company will come in handy.

A key client can be both at the company level and at the department level: if you have several sales departments, and some client starts to bring one of them more than 10% of sales, then he is the key for this division. Also, a key client can be at the manager level.

Potential. This means that the consumer does not yet bring you a lot of money, buys a little, but actually could significantly increase purchases. Suppose he buys two cartridges from you, but you know for sure that in another place he buys servers worth several million rubles. If you build relations with such a client correctly and can lure him, then cooperation with him will be very beneficial for you.

Fame. A client may not bring a lot of money, may not have potential, but if it is widely known and can be referenced (“We work with such a cool client ...”), this will open many doors for you, and other customers will trust you much more . Some companies specifically do this - their representative comes to the conditional Gazprom or Sberbank and says: “Let us do something for you for free, and you will give us good feedback, and we will put you in our client base.”

Innovative customer. There are very few of them (it is estimated that there are about 2.5% of them), and if the client is just that, then you can sell him new products and new services. These clients are also key, and in addition, they are partner clients with whom you share strategic plans. When working with them, you can already do without a tender: you just meet and discuss what he will buy, how he will buy, etc.

Demanding customer. Due to the fact that he requires a lot from you, he wants your whole company to work as it should. It will make you comply with quality standards, all procedures. If you have problems with the service, he will tell you about it - and your company will have to improve customer service. This is a client who can teach you something. For example, I was told that IKEA teaches its suppliers how to work with cost, how to build logistics. These are priceless things. In general, such a client, even if he buys a little, is also a key one, because it helps your business become better.

Based on the listed signs, you can determine which of your customers is the key.

How many key customers can a company have? How much can be considered optimal for one manager?

If we take only the first sign (sales volume) as a basis, then it follows from it that there can be no more than ten key customers by definition. But if you use the remaining parameters, then the number of such clients can increase significantly. Therefore, the first question has no comprehensive answer.

But to the question, how many key clients should be assigned to a particular manager, there is an answer. According to the classical rules of key-account management, one manager cannot lead more than three key customers, otherwise he is not able to pay enough attention to them.

How does working with key clients differ from working with regular ones?

You must build relationships with key customers both deeply and broadly. To make friends on many floors - with top managers, with middle managers and even with ordinary employees of the company. To build barriers for competitors: immediately offer the key customer new products that you have so that competitors do not get ahead of you. This is similar to the work of a farmer who cultivates his plot. A personal manager should be attached to the key client, who will be available 24 hours a day and will establish friendly relations with this company. His task is to increase loyalty so that the client does not go anywhere. And of course, additional sales to this customer.

Many people say: “We have a client who already buys products worth 5 million rubles a month. We don’t want to go there, we don’t want to deepen cooperation - we’re afraid to frighten away ”. This is fundamentally the wrong approach. Now this client buys 5 million rubles, but if you start to be friends with him, hang out, work, then he may well buy 15 and 20 million. It’s just that the problem is that you don’t offer anything, don’t work through these things.

What education should employees working with large and key clients have?

This is precisely the problem, because key account managers here in Russia are not being trained anywhere. There is simply no institute where you would be taught to be a key-account manager. And business trainers who conduct seminars and trainings on this topic can be counted on the fingers. Yes, and there is practically no corresponding literature either, except that we can name our book Radmilo Lukic, “Sales Technique for Large Clients”. I have not seen more specialized books on key-account management in Russian. Therefore, managers do some things intuitively - and make a lot of mistakes.

And what are the most common mistakes managers make when dealing with key customers?

The very first, main mistake - when the head of the company says: “All my clients are equal, we don’t allocate anyone to the VIP group. We treat the client who buys from us 300 rubles, and the client who purchases 3 million rubles. ” This is the stupidest thing you can do. Separate large and key customers into separate groups and take care of them in a special way.

The second mistake is when the head believes that it is not solid for him to engage in sales, therefore, he sends account managers to key customers, and at the same time he is not familiar with top managers or with the owners of these companies. The leader should be aware of all matters relating to key customers, regularly come to them and be friends with them.

The third mistake is when they do not allocate a special manager for interacting with key customers. And it turns out that the same employee takes all the little things and works with a key client. In the first case, this is the work of “shustrika”, in the second - the analyst. They are very difficult to combine.

Another mistake is when the company does not collect information about key customers. If all you know is the name of the contact person, company details, phone number and address, this is no good. Dossiers on key customers that I saw in the “right” companies ranged from 20 to 40 pages. It contains all the information about the company, about the people with whom the manager communicates, including what kind of cuisine they prefer, what hobbies they have; their birthdays are indicated, etc.

What is “critical dependence” on a client or group of clients?

Critical addiction refers to a situation where a client can dictate terms to you, because if he leaves, your company will either suffer losses or lose preferences in working with suppliers. Let's say you have a key client. Every month he purchases 5,000 specific products that you purchase at the factory. Due to the fact that you take so much, the factory gives a big discount on these products, and your company can offer a low price to all other customers. If the key customer leaves, then you will immediately lose your wholesale discount. We'll have to raise prices for all other customers, and they, having learned about this, also, most likely, will not stay. And this is an additional financial loss.

In addition, critical dependence is a situation where the share of a customer in your sales exceeds 50%. Accordingly, if he ceases to cooperate with you, the company may go negative, because all expenses are planned taking into account the money that he brings.

How to act a company that has become so addicted?

If you see that you can become critically dependent on any client, you need to work as actively as possible to expand the client base. Search for new consumers and increase sales to those who already work with you. Then, in addition to the key customer, you will have other customers, so that the company will stay afloat in a critical situation. In other words, diversification must be dealt with to the maximum. If you see that some customer is starting to bring in your company more than 20-30% or, even worse, more than 40% of all money, the first thing to do is expand the sales department to reduce this figure. But not due to the fact that the client will buy less, but due to the fact that there will be other consumers who begin to bring more money.

If a company has a single client, how to reduce risks?

This is a situation where the company has only one customer. It happens. Take for example a system integrator who works with only one oil company or bank. It’s clear that if, God forbid, something bad happens, then the system integrator will have very, very bad. You can reduce risks in the same way as I suggested above: create an active sales department that will attract new customers. This will allow the company in the event of a loss of a single client to continue to exist quietly further. Well, of course, you need to simultaneously increase the loyalty of this client so that he does not disappear. For this, special loyalty programs are needed.

However, you can never protect yourself 100%. Anything can happen on the market: they will sell the company and it will have other owners, the leader will change, a new supplier will come to the market with better conditions than you ... Therefore, hoping that you will always be lucky will be simple stupid and unprofessional.

What to do if a large and important client leaves?

How to return a departed customer? In fact, this is the topic of a separate training, I have one, called "Resuscitation of departed clients."

Unfortunately, when key customers leave, sometimes nothing can be done. And sometimes it is possible, if only to do it very quickly. Immediately you need to agree with the head of the company about a personal meeting, accompanying it with the words: “I don’t dispute anything, I don’t protest, let's just have lunch together.” And you meet at dinner in neutral territory. This is the best.

If you can’t agree on a joint dinner, then you’ll go to the company’s office, take some gift with you and ask: “You stopped buying from us, what happened?”

They answer you: "We decided to change the supplier, because ..." Further options are possible:

We were offered the best conditions;

We were not happy with your service;

We no longer need what we bought from you (now we produce it ourselves, directly purchase in China, etc.).

So you find out why the client left, what happened. And then you ask the head the question “What if ...”: “What if we could fix this situation?” or "What if we could offer you better conditions or the same that you received?" And depending on what the customer answers, you can either return him or finally understand that he is lost.

If you understand that it will not be possible to return the client, you should still leave well, because it is not known how they will treat him in the new place. Tell him: “You have a fallback, you can always come back if something goes wrong.” After that, leave a gift to the client and leave without demanding anything in return. If you do this, it is likely that after some time the client will remember you and either buy something from you or advise someone to pay attention to your company.

If the client left because he no longer needs your products or your services, then you can ask him to introduce you to someone and recommend to someone.

And finally. What should you always remember when working with a large client?

It must be remembered that it is not companies who buy from companies, but people from people. We say “business to business”, but the business itself does not buy or sell anything. Living people buy from living people. That is why, if you work with large clients, you should first make friends with them, perceive them as your very good friends and control not only how much money you received from them, but also how much you have improved relations with them.

There is such an expression: “A good seller dines with a client, and a very good one has breakfast.” If you are friends with customers, hang out and keep abreast of their news, then you can work with them for a long time.

One of my teachers, Jay Abraham, said that many businessmen make a very big mistake: they fall in love with their business, while it would be much better if they fell in love with their customers. This is very true in relation to working with key customers. Fall in love with them! This does not mean to spread a rug in front of them, it means to build normal, trusting partnerships with them. And then everything will work out.

Do not set traps on yourself! There are many ways in which sellers deceive themselves and prefer hard (and non-profitable) labor instead of working properly. Often the hard work they are immersed in is the result of a trap,