Customers for Life
In a recent article I wrote about the power of our core values, not only on our employees but also on our customers. I mentioned how a customer presenting at our annual kickoff meeting spoke about how much our core value of giving back meant to their business. What I want to focus on in this article is the concept of “Customers for Life.” Sometimes one can easily fall into believing that amassing accounts is the most expedient way to grow one’s business. And, while I admit, when first launching a business, this is certainly necessary in order to generate cash flow and “keep the lights on.” However, consistently following this approach can, in the long run, end up costing the business both in time and resources. This became apparent early on in our business life at Groupware. Chasing accounts only stretched our resources and made us less efficient in managing the customers we already had. Here, again, our core value of customer service led us to a more sustainable and meaningful strategy… customers for life.
We decided to outline a strategic criterion on how to acquire customers and how to best service them not just presently but more importantly, well into the future. How can we best position ourselves to be of value and remain relevant to our customers? We found the solution to be in developing customer intimacy. Focus on building relationships with our customers to remain relevant, have conversations, know their needs, their goals, feel comfortable challenging them and have open transparent communications in order to create trust. In essence, the key was the concept of creating a strategic partnership where we are proactive in identifying how best we can provide the services they demand and require to continually grow their business….make them customers for life.
Yes, we have a net new customer acquisition goal every year, which is essential to both support and grow our business, but I believe quality over quantity wins in the long run. At Groupware, when considering account acquisitions, we evaluate the long-term growth possibilities and in some situations we may have to drop an account when warranted. We may start by providing a small service to a new customer, but we are confident that once they have an opportunity to interact with our teams, we will win them over. We will do so by providing them with exceptional customer service and by remaining proactive in their business. Generating consistent revenue over a long period of time provides us with the opportunity to continually invest in new services and offerings because we have established a level of trust with our valued customers.
“Customers for Life” is a simple phrase but the commitment it takes to actually achieve this takes a belief in one’s strategy and a team dedicated to fulfilling the goal. Over 10 years ago, at a national kickoff meeting, we wanted to create a specific mindset for the company. We were young, ambitious and apparently according to industry media, we were successful. We knew we needed to establish ourselves in the marketplace so customers would know they could trust that we intended on being around in the future. The theme of this meeting, “Built to Last,” let our customers, prospective customers, partners and employees know we were committed to growing and maintaining a business they could count on when they needed us.
The natural evolution of the “Built to Last” mindset we established back then has led us to our current business focus, customers for life. This approach allows us to continually thrive in the marketplace as we develop and provide new services our customers need and demand to grow their business today and well into the future. And at Groupware, the future is the finish line.