By Laurie Lyza Director of marketing, Crossville
Understanding the customer experience and finding ways to improve it is the struggle of all good businesses. According to Return on Behavior Magazine, the average business loses between 10% and 30% of its customers yearly. These customers take their attitudes and experiences and commonly air them to anyone who will listen.

Why do customers leave?
Statistics tell us that 96% of customers leave not because of poor treatment but because of indifference. Who do they tell? Anyone who will listen to them.

Businesses forget that the sold customer likes them, is willing to pay more money and wants to be loyal. Yet despite this information most companies choose to spend their money on finding new customers rather than cherishing the existing ones and building real advocates for their business.

No wonder so many businesses are having trouble competing in the marketplace. They have forgotten how to love their customers and keep them close. Keeping customers close is a lot easier than you think but it does mean going out of your way.

One great example of this is a customer appreciation event hosted by EF Marlburger in Fishers, Ind. Since much of its trade is interior designers, showroom manager Karla Shone decided to have an event called “Girls Talk.”

Fun education
“Many of our American Society for Interior Design (ASID) customers are female, love style and design and also need continuing education credits to keep their licenses,” she explained. “With that in mind I decided to make education fun by bringing in a speaker for the education and vendors with designer purses, clothing and make up.”

The food looked and tasted great and was mostly prepared in house. According to Karla, a “lots of love and no pressure” atmosphere made the event work. The party was about thanking past customers and building strong connections.

You don’t have to be clever and spend a great deal of money to make this work; you just need a desire to show your customers you care and aim to please. Start by providing your customers with a comment card and a thank you phone call after the job. This is also a great time to ask for that important referral.

The topper to solidify those relationships is to bring your customers in for a night of fun and good food. You may even want to raise money for your favorite charity.