Added Value

For as long as I've been in the advertising and marketing business I, and my colleagues, have focused the Unique Selling Point (USP) of the businesses I work with, helping promote them, persuading potential customers to darken their doors, readies in hand, keeping the wolf from the door.

However, I am now of the opinion that in the current climate, far from worrying about gaining new customers, businesses need to work harder to retain the ones they've got. Long gone is the level of loyalty once enjoyed by that cosy customer relationship, often fuelled by membership of the same golf club, or across the Masonic dinner table.

I believe the the new business 'buzz'`word should be 'added value'.

Consider, what are you giving your customers over and above what they are paying for, and entitled to expect?

This applies equally to local government, service industries and the hospitality and retail sectors. The 'feel good' or WIIFM (what's in it for me) factor might be a 'freebie', something extra, or a small consideration to show how much they are valued.

When was the last time you engaged with a customer only to have them say 'Wow, thanks, I wasn't expecting that.'? This is what will keep them coming back, and takes a positive, pro-active approach from every employee, all the time.

My mantra is 'attitude is everything' – perhaps it's why, for ten years, the family group I take time out to cook for each summer say 'We are only going to come again next year if you are doing the cooking. When are YOU going to be available?'; paying four times what I usually earn in a week, because I give added value, every day of their stay, making me worth my weight in gold to them. Are you?