Prioritising Your Customer

Intuitive entrepreneurship operates with a customer-centric focus. They understand that their relationships with customers are not simply and individually transactional, they are relationships to be nurtured and nourished over time.

Customers are people. They think and feel… and choose.

They can choose to buy from you. They can choose to buy from a competitor. They can choose not to buy at all.

Encouraging Customer Retention

Thus, the challenge lies in creating enough value and satisfaction that customers are drawn to return, time and again. To understand the importance of this, a business needs to carefully consider the cost of acquiring new customers and measure that against the cost of retaining existing ones. It does cost to acquire new customers. It costs far less to keep the ones that you have. Far less.

A healthy business approach involves inspiring or encouraging your customer to choose you repeatedly and with longevity. This incorporates the concept of Customer Lifetime Value.

Increasing Customer Retention

Understanding and developing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is essential for sustainable growth, establishing loyalty, and creating genuine long-term connections with your customer base.

Customer Lifetime Value is the total value a customer contributes to your business during the relationship with you over time.

‘Harvard Business Review’ reports that increasing customer retention by just 5%, can boost profits by 25-95%! This moves the emphasis from short-term gains to long-term relationships, placing weight on customer satisfaction, retention, and advocacy, than making a quick sale.

Customer Retention Importance

Why is this important for a business? Some don’t realise that it can - according to Forbes Magazine - cost up to five times more money to create a new customer than to maintain an existing one.

In addition to this, Bain & Company report that long-term customers spend approximately 67% more money than new customers, providing a stable and more generous revenue stream.

Also, loyal, converted customers become your ‘brand ambassadors’, organically promoting you and expanding your market reach through positive word-of-mouth. This is priceless.

Customer Retention Benefits

How can a business take this approach? They could consider making customer experiences more personal, offer exceptional customer service and implement meaningful and rewarding loyalty programmes.

Valuing customer lifetime relationships is practical, clever - and effectively essential. However, it will resonate more deeply with your customers if it comes from authentic intentionality, not just as a means to increase sales.

Those that prioritise this approach not only enjoy increased profitability but also build lasting bonds of trust and loyalty with their customers, which help to further grow and sustain the business. Remember, every interaction with your customer is an investment in your company's future.

As world-renowned marketing expert, Seth Godin, states:

“It’s easier to love a brand when the brand loves you back. Invest in your customers, and they will invest in you."