And a few ideas for how exactly to do it.
Of course we all appreciate every customer that supports our business and gives us a chance to help them with our knowledge, skills and talents.
But there are a few types of customers that I’d say deserve special recognition: repeat customers, referring customers and those who leave a review. Read on to hear a few ideas for how exactly to recognize these customers!
Repeat customers
These people enjoyed your service or product enough to come back for more - that’s amazing! Are you able to pull up some details about the last time you worked with them so that you can continue to build that trust factor?
If not, consider a CRM like 17hats that can store your emails and so many other details in nicely organized project folders.
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And are you setting yourself up to know whether you’re attracting repeat customers? Hopefully you’re able to remember a good portion of them, but depending on the number of jobs you complete in a month / year, maybe you simply can’t.
I always love to suggest asking a question on your lead capture form such as “how did you hear about us”, and having “repeat customer” as one of the drop-down selections.
Also see: Steps to track lead sources
From there, maybe your CRM runs a workflow or creates a task that helps you recognize the fact that this person is a repeat customer. Perhaps it comes with a discount offer or a rewards system… whatever feels right for your business.
Referring customers
As strong as repeat customers are, referring customers are also such a huge benefit to your business. If someone feels strongly enough that you will handle their friends and family with care, they might refer them to your services or products and do your marketing for you.
This is incredible! I’d like to suggest that you not only recognize the referring customer, but also the new (potential) customer for their trust in you and their contact.
And here’s an example of how to use CRM features to make sure this happens:
Add the option for “referral” to your drop-down question on your aforementioned lead capture form.
Create a “Referral” workflow with two steps: one to immediately start your usual workflow, plus a task for you to thank the referring customer (in whatever way makes sense for your business).
Start the Referral workflow if someone selects that option on the lead capture form, and this will effectively start both your Referral and usual workflow concurrently to make sure nothing gets missed.
(Be sure to indicate that your usual workflow starts for all other choices in that drop-down question of your lead capture form.)
As strong as repeat customers are, referring customers are also such a huge benefit to your business.
Customers who leave a review
When you get those 5-star reviews, take action. Thanking that customer both publicly (wherever they left their review) and with a personalized note could go such a long way… and might help to create a future repeat customer or referring customer, too.
Consider using the language left in your review for your marketing… create or add to a reviews section on your website… create social posts… include the review in your next email marketing message. Celebrate it!
And of course those 5-star reviews mean so much to every small business, but might I also suggest that we recognize those who leave reviews that are less-than?
If you can find a way to take their feedback as constructive criticism, you can actually get a blueprint for what might need adjusting in your process, your communication, etc. Maybe you won’t be splashing these reviews all over social media, but a follow-up note that simply thanks them for their feedback is almost sure to be appreciated.
And if done right, maybe these customers will still remain open to the idea of utilizing your service again.
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If you’d like to learn more about the 17hats CRM and how it can help you recognize these types of customers, grab a free download to learn about 17 of my favorite features of the platform!