Your #1 missed opportunity may not be what you think. It’s not a market you’ve gotten to late, a product released without certain features, or even a ridiculously small sales and marketing budget. I know, these rank high in the “missed opportunity” category. So you can see that if these still don’t rank first, the #1 spot must be big. This. But it’s also a no-brainer that can embarrass you for missing out.

The #1 missed sales and marketing opportunity has to do with your own group of customers. We all know by now that it costs 6-8 times more to sell to a new customer than it does to an existing one. However, our sales and marketing budgets are heavily skewed toward acquiring new customers. And when you launch new products, don’t you usually launch them to the “market” before or at the same time as your own customers? I’m not saying you shouldn’t invest in new clients. BUT, I’m saying that you should also have distinct and specific plans to build customer loyalty.

You?

Here are three quick areas to focus on to build customer loyalty into your sales and marketing plans:

Product knowledge. It is likely that only 30% of your customers are aware of everything you have to offer. Most know what they have bought and that is it. I have surveyed the customers of many of my clients and have never reached a number higher than 30% total product awareness. Make a concerted effort to schedule time with each of your current customers to introduce other products (cross-sell) or upgrades (upsell) that they may be interested in. And most of all, post company announcements (ie new product or service offerings) to your existing customers BEFORE you roll out to the rest of the market.

Customer service. Create a service level “agreement” with your customers that shows your level of commitment. What is your response time to customer requests? It must be within 24 hours. How approachable is your customer service team? Does your tone of service always come from a point of “empathy”.

Use a customer satisfaction survey to find out how well you’re doing. Send one to active customers every 3 months… or at least once a year. Only 4% of your dissatisfied customers will actively complain…so by asking “how are you doing” you can reach over 96% who don’t complain but aren’t completely satisfied. Study the results and take them seriously. DO something about the negative and use the positive in your marketing efforts to acquire new customers.

Communication. Determine a schedule and the vehicles you will use to regularly communicate with customers. Launch a customer newsletter that contains helpful/useful information. Consider a quarterly contact with your active customers by an executive in your organization who is not usually in the “customer circle” (president, product manager, etc.). Send a handwritten “thank you” note for an especially nice size order. If you haven’t already, get a list of all customers (active and inactive) for the last two years and contact them.

Customer loyalty programs can be a bit more complicated, but if you focus on these three areas, you’ll be well on your way to maximizing your biggest opportunity: your customer!