It's far easier to hold onto people than it is to get new people.

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It's 10x easier to retain existing customers.



That is a stat that we have often come up against in a consumer industry where they preach customer retention as it is so much easier to hold onto people that you already have than to convince somebody to leave what they know to join you.

There are plenty reasons behind this but at the very top of the list is the fact that we are all creatures of habit. We like to see the same people, eat the same things, know what we are up to and are comfortable in our surroundings.

Change can be scary and people like to feel safe in the knowledge of where they are and what they are doing. That is why people don't tend to change their path if they are even reasonably happy with where they are. It takes something bigger to either push them away or pull them towards something new.

That is why most start up business find it so hard to survive their initial opening period as they take time to build up a customer base and create enough income to cover their initial outlay. Most start-ups fail and it can be due to lack of money or lack of staying power by the owners.

If you can survive long enough you will add more people. The biggest question then is how to hold them. How to give them enough that they won't need to leave for greener pastures.



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Once they have made that decision to come to you there needs to be a big focus on how to keep these people as it takes so long to get them in the first place.

Once you have them, they are now familiar with your brand, your product, your methods and are willing to be a part of that system. As long as you can meet their needs then they will have no reason to go anywhere else unless something changes.

Either you fail them as a business or somebody can give them a lot more in what they are looking for.

In either case you will have let them down by not being able to keep them as customers and meet their needs.

The best way to stop this from happening is to listen to what they want and to make sure that whatever you are providing, that you are doing it very well. If you can give the best experience for that customer then they will have no reason to leave or to look at other options. Brand recognition is huge in business and once people are happy with the brand that you have created it will take a lot for them to leave.

Focus on keeping your old customers and new ones will follow over time.

Word of mouth plays a big part in growth and if that is positive it will lead others to find you.

That is one of the most important lessons that I have learnt over the past 15 years in business.

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This is very true and have struggled with our business even though our pricing and product is better than our competitors. An established business takes 20 years to build and is not done in 5 years which people often forget. Traction enticing customers away from existing suppliers does happen but can take years for the really big clients to move.

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That's exactly it.
You won't just open up your doors and become a busy thriving business. It will take years of effort, marketing, failures and hopefully successes. From there you will create a solid customer base over the years and at some stage this will expand into more customers and more profit if you look after those existing customers.

People talk and if you do a good job other will hear about it and start to come over to your business for a better experience. Price is important but not the most important thing.

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I'm wondering if it applies to burial services :)

You are right, if you have a customer, keep it!

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Sure it does. It's very easy to hold onto dead people. They won't go far.

Takes a lot more effort to make new customers. 😂

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In marketing in general and in the market, you have to keep old customers more than trying to attract new ones
Old and existing customers will do the job and bring you new customers

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Exactly.

If you can do a good job keeping your old customers then they will bring more people in with them. A good reputation goes a long way in business.

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i would also apply this to leofinance or hive. rather focus on getting new users to make sure the ones here are having a better experience. this majorly applies to tribes and communities.

leofinance is one community that has followed the rule mentioned in this post. there is a good relationship between the community members and the development team which has allowed the community to grow significantly

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Absolutely it can be applied. HIVE is a business just like any other which has a user base. If people have a good experience then they will stay, if they have a bad experience then they will leave. It was one of the greatest failings on the old site, that people had horrible experiences and left in large numbers. They tried to get things changes to make that experience better but the designers would not listen and it bled users for two years. HIVE is slightly better but still has a lot of issues before it can do well but leofinance has made the biggest strides.

They have designed a business around their customer base and have done a great job there. If gives a much better user experience than any other tribe or chain and the results are clear. People use it, new people are joining and people are happy here. That is how you create success. Over time they will keep expanding and we will see huge results.

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Absolutely.. you spend 80 percent trying to find new people, when you could have spent 20 percent keeping those you have.

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Yup, and if you can spend 20% keeping your old users happy. They will talk about it and bring in friends and family to have that same experience.

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leofinance is one community that has followed the rule mentioned in this post. there is a good relationship between the community members and the development team which has allowed the community to grow significantlyб.Old and existing customers will do the job and bring you new customers

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They have done a great job in maintaining and growing their userbase. You never hear much discontent or people leaving the site. Instead you have a good core of regular users and then new people popping up after they like what they see.

Over time this will grow exponentially as more people hear about the site and its bigger system.

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Words of mouth is very crucial marketing that a businessman should build a good reputation

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I think it's the best way to grow as it shows people what a good business that you operate if people are willing to share it with others. That gives new users a confidence to join in when they trust the reputation.

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When I had my business before it went bankrupt, I didn't understand this analogy.

I was focusing every day on finding more people to sell to while I was losing my existing customers, so my business went down the drain because of that mismanagement.

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Sorry to hear it. A lot of these lessons unfortunately only come through experience and learning from past mistakes.

I'm sure that this was a tough time for you but when you try again it will stand to you and there will be more success by using your past experiences to thrive in your next venture.

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This will certainly be the case.

Thank you for replying to the comment

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Change can be scary and people like to feel safe in the knowledge of where they are and what they are doing.

I have never thought of business in this manner. My thought has been that "if a client misbehaves,I will show him that a the contracted also have rights" You know there is this slogan we have here that customers are always right and they can do anything to you including public assult is right cause they are your customers. Now that philosophy has a way of undervaluing a business man. Well maybe they always say that because they want to win the trust of the people they are doing business with thereby permanently owning them. Now I know that they are afraid of change most especially in this world of mixed multitude all in the name of entrepreneurs. I have learnt now and I will make necessary adjustments.

Most start-ups fail and it can be due to lack of money or lack of staying power by the owners.

Now concerning this, I was almost backing out of business sometimes in February when I completed a project for someone and when it was time to get the remaining payment,problem came and I tried all way possible to keep the connect but it was just not visible so I had to let it go.

Money is very important in making a business work. One of the major reason why some start ups don't last according to my observation is that they get less of their expectations in a transaction.

Word of mouth plays a big part in growth and if that is positive it will lead others to find you.

I always long to get positive feedback from my customers because that will bring others to me.

Trust me this is really a great write up that will help many starters like me.

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Thanks for the detailed reply to my post. I have spent 15 years managing in different businesses and learned plenty of tough lessons along the way. While we have to treat the client with politeness and respect, from a business point of view we can usually say that the customer is normally wrong. The trick here ios to make them happy while steering them in the right direction and making it a good experience.

I'm thinking about opening my own business in the new town that i have just moved to as there is a gap in the market for more business. It is a small area with no facilities that is crying out for people to start something new.

Funds will be a big part of this as i know that we will need to survive the first 5 years before being able to live comfortable=y form the business itself. Until i can set up my finances to cover the first 5 years of trading then there is no point in trying to run a new business since i will be under pressure form day 1 to survive.

It takes time to pay off the initial expenses, build reputation, build a customer base and grow to a stage where it becomes profitable. A lot of people don't understand that concept and think that if they have a good idea it will just take off and make them money.

Without time and building a brand and customer base it is doomed to fail even if the idea is good. That takes time and money which a lot of people underestimate.

Feedback is a great tool for businesses as it shows your strengths and weaknesses which you can use to improve and adapt for further growth.

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Thank you for this advices I am really enjoying your read.

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I most say I am delighted am your follower here. I am really thorns from your post. Thanks sir and I pray that your business plan in your new town blossom faster than you would think or imagine.

Thank you

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Whereas, i do agree with the idea of focusing on keeping your current user base. This has urked me in that i feel like it's leaning towards limited growth. I think the proof of brain algo works so much into social media i just can't fathom the idea of limited to little growth. It just seems foreign to social media.

The other part is instability. There hasn't been a system like this that ever worked on large scale. So the data is inconclusive on how well it would perform. I think its also important to note with a smaller base of users on hive that some have been disgruntle. I've found several videos around youtube on disgruntle hive participants.

My concern in this is with an already small base restricting or limiting growth can seem counterproductive. I'm not saying hive restricts growth. However, i have had conversations with huge stakeholders in projects like these who had no aspirations for a huge network as they feared stability to their earnings and value.

The problem thus far is although they have achieved a great amount of success on hive they actually represent a very small part of the community. I fear their ideas about the platform aren't in its entirety healthy ones. So yes i agree keep the people you have but if thats the only people you have, as well, those people are portionally going out and in.. Then it kinda brings me back to my original thoughts of focusing on growth. Just a thought.

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