This week we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a time commonly used to reflect on personal blessings but it is also an excellent opportunity to identify the things your business is grateful for.

As a small business owner, I’m thankful for:

• revenue growth
• loyal customers
• customers who pay in a timely fashion
• customers who refer their friends and family to me
• overhead costs that are shrinking (or at least not going up)
• reliable web hosting
• return customers
• lower gas prices
• competition that is giving up

What are you and your business grateful for? How can you show your customers?

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a guest post from Joseph Eitan, founder of Photo Paper Direct.

The next sentence might raise a few eyebrows, but I am going to say it anyway. Winning new customers is much easier than keeping them as returning customers. After winning new business, so many things could go wrong during the retention process that customer retention becomes daunting for the business owner. However, retaining customers is extremely crucial to the health of your business, even though it’s not as easy as winning them.

5 Ways to Win New Business

1. Increase Your Customer Base – If the business has a good conversion rate, the math is simple. More customers will result in more business.

2. Cater for Different Marketing Channels – It is very likely that some of your customer base might be ebay users, some might be Amazon users and some will only look at the organic search results. To win new business it will make sense to diversify your marketing channels to reach as many potential customers as possible.

3. Check Your Prices – Customers are very wise these days. Before buying from you, they will research other offers to find the best deal, especially for branded products. To win new customers, ensure your prices are competitive.

4. Offer More Products or Services – True in many industries, customer taste changes, technology improves and new products are constantly introduced. To win new customers stay tuned to your market and add new products when possible.

5. Make Your Current Customers Work for You – Current customers can help immensely. Social recommendations are known to have a high conversion rate because friends or family tend to share a similar taste. To win new customers make sure your website has an easy way to share content (for example, an addthis.com button is an easy way to email a page) and do not be afraid to ask customers to share your products with others.

10 Ways to Keep Customers

1. Offer More Communication Channels – The days of communicating with your customers via email alone are numbered. To keep customers you must talk the same language using the same channels. Consider using Twitter, Skype and even a 3rd party online chat application to engage your customers.

2. Respond to Emails Within 15 Minutes – In the viral world, it is very hard to cause a customer to say “Wow!”, but it’s not impossible. Quality customer support in the shape of priority email support can cause that. To keep customers, make it a business policy to respond as soon as possible. In some cases, you might still respond while the customer is browsing the site, thereby increasing the likelihood of a sale.

3. Make New Offers – Some customer groups find price drop offers appealing, some find free delivery appealing and some are just looking for any excuse to spend more. To keep customers, always diversify your offers to keep your products as appealing to your customers as the first time they bought from you.

4. Openly Encourage Reviews (Good or Bad) – It is easier for customers to relate to other customers and to the problems or solutions they found when using your products if there is a place for them to talk about their experience. In order to keep a genuine brand image, encourage product reviews which will also help you spot any potential problems on time.

5. Actively Ask for Feedback – Similar to product reviews, the goal of asking for feedback is to find potential problems with your products or service which might put off customers from buying again. Consider signing every service email (such as an invoice, order confirmation and of course, company newsletter) with a request to provide feedback.

6. Look and Talk Professionally – To win and retain new customers, become an authority on the product or service you offer. The brand image, the language you use, and the level of service offered should all spell professionalism.

7. Do Not Distance Yourself – While your business needs to look and act in a professional manner, do not overdo it. Remember that your customer base has many potential returning customers, some with more knowledge than others. Avoid using buzz words, openly accept communication, and find the right balance between appearing professional and distancing yourself from your customers.

8. Fix Problems Quickly – If you find a problem with your products or service, act quickly and decisively.

9. Stay Competitive – As you already read, one of my top tips of winning new business is to be competitive. To keep new customers, you must also stay competitive, taking into account the total price of your products or service i.e. tax and delivery when applicable.

10. Surprise Your Customers (with a nice surprise, that is) – Do something beyond what you have to. Send a promotion code to loyal customers, create a high quality how-to guide sharing your extensive industry experience, or even send your customer a congratulations email on their birthday. Just show you really care.

What are your tips for retaining customers?

This is a guest post by Joseph Eitan, founder of online office consumables and print cartridges store Photo Paper Direct.

Customers’ expectations are set in more than just the fine print.

I had a failed attempt at returning a product to IKEA recently that highlighted how customer expectations are set in multiple places and venues.

We purchased a laptop workstation at IKEA, put it together, and realized that it wasn’t going to work for us. When I tried to return the product, I was told that I couldn’t return it since it was built.

So I offered to take it apart. Would they accept it then? No.

I offered to put it back in its original packaging. Would they accept it? No.

Every thing I tried to do to comply with the wording on the receipt was denied.

At every step, the employee gave me a reason that wouldn’t work. Reasons which seemed to run counter to what the wording on the receipt told me or didn’t mention in the first place.

It was impossible to return my item. I left a very unhappy customer.

My wife and I have literally spent thousands of dollars furnishing our home with IKEA products. Unfortunately, this incident tarnished my impression of IKEA and directly impacted my likelihood to buy from them again.

This reminds me of what Andrew Lock says on his video podcast: “Marketing is everything and everything is marketing.”

Assumptions

IKEA was relying on me to read and interpret the fine print on the receipt to match their definitions of words like “unused” and “built”.

Unfortunately, they had three failures that lead to confusion. You would be wise to make sure you aren’t setting false expectations with your customers.

Mistake #1. Appear to Accept Returns

There is a large area near the checkout registers where IKEA sells as-is products. This gives the impression that they are reselling products that people have assembled and returned.

Lesson: Does your store, website, or other public-facing materials give the impression that you allow certain things that in fact, you do not?

If so, make some changes. Be consistent across the board.

Mistake #2. Appear to Welcome Returns

IKEA has big posters showing a heart with open arms extending out of its sides that says “It’s OK to change your mind.” Unfortunately, it isn’t really OK to change your mind once you get your product assembled and can actually see it isn’t what you hoped it would be.

Lesson: Broad statements with emotion-invoking imagery doesn’t compel people to read the fine print and get the real story.

Mistake #3. Conflicting Copywriting

IKEA receipts are printed on stationary paper that includes the company’s return policy. This doesn’t match the bold black letters that are on the front of the receipt printed at the register. Which one should I believe? Inconsistent information confuses customers.

Lesson: Does your company have different messages in different places? Your receipts, website, signage, emails, and all other forms of communication should be consistent in their wording and message.

Impressions Matter

IKEA gives the impression that returns are welcomed and that you can have a worry-free purchase. “Don’t worry,” they say. “It’s OK to change your mind.” Unfortunately, they fail in comunicating the reality of what they are willing to do.

I asked the employee at the returns counter: “Surely I can’t be the only customer with this problem?” She responded: “We have to turn away a lot of people for the same reason.”

This screams of a failure in the process. With so many failed returns being attempted, surely IKEA could do a better job of setting expectations up front.

Lesson: If you are seeing lots of frustrated customers post-sale, something must not be right on the front-end. Take a look at your communications, processes, and products. What is causing the failure downstream? Identify it and fix it.

When you force your employees to say something or try and sell something to customers at the point of sale, it will come across as unnatural.

On my last trip to Fry’s electronics, as I was paying for my purchase, the cashier asked if I wanted to apply for a Fry’s credit card.

You’ve probably heard that request before at numerous retail locations and it rarely sounds compelling enough to take action.

I asked the cashier how often people take him up on the offer for the credit card. He replied, “Not many.”

“Do you get in trouble if you don’t ask?” He mumbled, “Yes.”

Obviously there is no incentive for this employee to get people to sign up for the service other than fear of punishment. This reduces the employee to the bare minimum steps required to not get fired.

It doesn’t get people to sign up for the service.

I always thought that the cashier should ask me the “do you want to sign up for our credit card?” question before I hand over the cash or swipe my credit card.

Sometimes this question is given with a preface: “Would you like to save 10% today by…”

This, unfortunately, can easily be answered with a “No.”

If you want to be truly effective, try tweaking your thinking just a little.

Why not hook the customer with an offer like “Would you like to save 10% off your XYZ today?” where XYZ is personalized to what they are buying.

In this case, more customers are likely to say “yes.” Then you can explain how they can save 10%.

Lead off with what is in it for the customer and you’ll be more clear with the benefits of your offer. Additionally, you can give incentives to your employees to make them more more convincing in their selling.