Customer Retention

I came across this posting from Results Group last week and it really struck a nerve. I have summarized some of the content, but the comments around a sense of entitlement are so relevant!

Never get lazy with your audience. Complacency is the merit badge you get for winning a marathon in your comfort zone. About ten years ago, U2 learned this lesson the hard way. Their album, Pop, sold fewer copies than any other record in their catalogue. As a result, the group made a public declaration:
“Our band is reapplying for the job of the best band in the world.”
But this wasn’t bravado or a publicity stunt – it was pure conviction. They sincerely wanted to squash the complacency they’d built around themselves.
So they worked their tails off. And a year later, their tenth record, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, sold over thirty five million copies and won seven Grammies. All because they rooted out any sense of entitlement and got back to work.

Stay hungry. The word complacent derives from the Latin complacentia, which means, “satisfied.”

Which means the opposite of complacency isn’t happiness – it’s hunger.

That is, being proactive in the way you honor, recognize and thank the people whose relationships are essential to your existence

Constantly re-educate your market. Good brands evolve, upgrade and mature – but great brands actively share the highlights of that process with their customers. Otherwise people will have a limited understanding of the value you deliver. And it will become increasingly hard for them to be your advocates. Your challenge is to remind people of three things.

First, what you do: That is, your current positioning to the marketplace.

Second, what you’re doing: That is, your current projects and clients in the marketplace.

Third, what you’ve done: That is, your past work and successes thereof.

 

These are the simple messages for a web site