Savvy B2B Marketing

Need to know how to keep your customers in hard times?The Savvy Sisters welcome Mark Schaefer who shares four simple ways to fortify your business despite the challenging economic climate.

The recession is a war and there will be far fewer companies standing at the end of it. If you're planning to be one of the winners, you'll have to concentrate your efforts to maintain (or grow) your marketshare and retain customers, even when cash is tight. Here are four things you MUST do to keep your customers on a tight marketing budget.

Listen. Do your customers annoy you? Maybe it seems like they don't understand or fully appreciate your products? Seem to be quick on the trigger with quality claims? Keep asking for new services? Don't ignore these gifts from your customers. That's right - GIFTS!

Here is the essence of competitive advantage: Listen to your customers more effectively and respond more rapidly than your competitors. That's it. Every business strategy stems from that simple philosophy. Every great product and brand was created from that wisdom. Keep listening! Keep responding! Keep innovating!

Tend to your core competencies. Do you think your business is too small to be a brand? Well, you're a brand whether you want to be or not. Everything you do and say communicates who you are and what your business stand for. The personification of your company -- that's your brand.

Think about what makes you successful and unique. What's special about what you sell, how you sell it and who you sell it to? One of the biggest causes of business failures is that companies lose sight of their core competencies - what their customers know and LOVE about them. Defend your competencies - your brand - with unwavering consistency.

Keep a long-term perspective. The economy WILL turn around and there will be vast opportunities on the other side. In the meantime, stay optimistic, stay tenacious, do what you need to do to survive and continue to serve your customers with determination and grace. You can't survive without that customer. Do what it takes to serve them now.

If you lose your customers now because of poor quality or service, what will it cost to gain them back when the economy turns? Ten times as much. Customer retention is always cheaper than customer acquisition. To "win" the recession, fight to keep your customers.

Be compassionate. A true story: Years ago, when I worked for Alcoa, we had a multi-million dollar account who bought exclusively from my company. During a recession, Alcoa had helped this struggling customer by extending terms for them and helping them with R&D with no promise of a pay-off. When the customer's founder was on his death bed, he whispered to his sons, "Always buy from Alcoa. They brought us to the dance." We had earned this customer's business literally beyond the grave.

This is the time to show customers what you're made of. You tell them you care - now SHOW it. You want to find mutually-beneficial solutions - work even harder for those win-win business offerings. Really listen and understand what you can do - together - to make it to the other side of the downturn.

It's probable that your customers are suffering too. The recession is an opportunity to build rock-solid, long-term relationships by showing understanding and grace in the face of difficulty.

Mark Schaefer has more than 25 years experience in industrial marketing and is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions (www.businessesgrow.com). You can find his blog {grow} at http://schaefersolutions.blogspot.com