There are many strategies to use to keep customers coming back to do business with you but the first one should always be honesty in all your dealings with them. Give them a good service or product at a fair price and never try to cheat them by 'putting one over' on them. People may not always be able to prove that you are or have cheated them, but many of them will know it instinctively.
Instinct is often an overlooked word in today's business environment but you ignore it at your loss.
Integrity in Business:
Integrity in the Oxford English Dictionary (circa 1964) is described as:
"integrity, n. Wholeness; soundness; uprightness, honesty. [ME, f. OF -te, or L integritas (integer, see-ty)]"
So basically it simply means honesty and wholeness in your business dealings or way of life. To live upright according to your word; and to deal with people in a sound, honest and wholesome way. This should always be your first strategy to keep customers coming back to do business with you.
Word of Mouth:
If you always follow the above strategy then good word of mouth (WOM) advertising will be given to you and this is advertising that you simply cannot, nor ever will be, able to buy. This is priceless and the very best advertising that you can ever have.
If someone a person knows recommends your business or service highly, then this acts as social proof that you are a legitimate and honest person to deal with. People always feel more comfortable dealing with someone that someone that they already know and trust, has recommended.
Quality Product:
There is absolutely no point in selling any product that you yourself, wouldn't use or recommend. This sounds too obvious a point but if you don't sell a product that offers good quality for the price being paid for it, then it can't be said to be a quality product.
Quality doesn't mean it has to be "gold standard". Most people, especially today on a very tight family budget, can't afford the "gold standard". What people today need is a quality product for a price that they can afford to pay, to do whatever the product is designed to do.
Quality Service:
Good service always starts with a friendly greeting. This is sometimes overlooked when people walk through your business door and you are busy or they arrive at an inconvenient time for you. People will always remember how they are treated long after the job is done.
Quality service involves more than a friendly greeting and a satisfactory job; it requires a relationship with your customer that can't be found anywhere else from someone providing a similar service to your own.
The above four principles of integrity, word of mouth, quality product and quality service will give any business in any industry, a firm foundation for a very profitable, long-term business well into the future.
All
Business strategies today still depend on the basic foundations that have formed good business practices throughout time but today are often disregarded.
