marketing research :: essays research papers

In an article written by Laura Schneider, titled Customer Relationships Are Key to Your Marketing Strategy July 2003, she states that she could show a occupancy how to increase sales by 50% without increasing a market budget. Her research indicates businesses amaze inactive customers that the owners believe exit stay with the company, without maintaining or essay to grow in the relationship. Business owners often wonder why havent they heard from a customer or if they left, why did they leave? There be umteen reasons a customer or client may leave, but the ones heard most often areThey felt prices were too high or unfair. They had an discordant complaint. They took a competitors offer. They left because they felt the business didnt care. The last two options make up the majority of why a client or customer will no longer use a service or a product. Laura believes this makes sense because customers often purchase a service or product because they have developed a relationship with the company, or they owned another product, or a friend or associate referred them to you. When given with the aforementioned information she ponders the reasons why businesses spend 80% of their marketing dollars expiration after naked customers and clients rather than nurturing, retaining, and maintaining the customer relationships they already have? She suggests before spending time and money going after new customers and clients that a business does not have a relationship to consider the following statisticsRepeat customers spend 33% more than new customers. Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers. It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing to a customer. Laura believes the marketing dollar will go further if it is used to build, nurture, and develop current customer relationships. Building these relationships means treating customers and clients as if they are strategic partners and showing them tha t they are appreciated. Its important to try to satisfy them with the right products and services, supported by the right promotion and making it available at the right time and location. Customers can comfortably detect indifference and insincerity and they simply will not tolerate it. Long-term client and customer loyalty is a long-term challenge that you must strive for every day and with every transaction no matter how big or small. While a growing business needs to everlastingly capture new customers, the focus and priority should be on pleasing the existing customer base.