Each of your customers is different. However, the odds are that they share characteristics that can group them into certain segments. According to Fool.com, Best Buy

… identifies key customer groups within the trade area of each store and tailors the merchandise assortment and service offerings to those customers’ individual needs.

The company divided its customers into five groups.

the affluent professional looking for the latest technology with top-notch service, time-starved suburban moms, small-business customers looking for integrated solutions, the family man who wants proven technology, and the early-adopter social customer.

Characterize your customers

Think about your customers. Do they easily fall into different segments? Maybe you could group them by:

• frequency of purchase
• purchase amount
• level of service provided
• types of products purchased

Depending on your business, there are numerous ways you can segment your customers. By taking the time to evaluate your customer base and identify recurring characteristics, you can gather valuable information to improve your bottom line.

Customize your service

Once you’ve identified in which segments your customers belong, you need to develop a strategy to improve sales in each of these categories. This is essential because as we know, current customers are your best prospects. If one of your segments is the one-time purchaser, think about how you can incentivize the customer to return for more. For larger more frequent clients, how can you make doing business with your company so easy that they’d be crazy to go somewhere else?

What kind of customers do you have? Don’t know? You’d better find out before your competition does!

The Cosmetic Site reminds us of six essential things you need to master to make your company successful.

Positioning

It is crucial that you do some homework to find out just how you are, and could be, perceived and how to turn this perception into something positive, distinctive and emotionally relevant to your audiences.

We’ve mentioned before that you need to put on your customer hat to understand your customers’ needs. Take a step outside of your office and see how others look at your company. Does the outward perception reflect the inside reality?

Packaging

Good packaging conveys who you are and why a customer should choose you. It should clearly convey your “personality”Â? and also the benefits your product or service offers.

This comes down to keeping up your appearance and clearly communicating your services to customers. If your message isn’t clear, your potential customers will never know that they should be doing business with you.

Promotion

Revisit your selling message to ensure it clearly articulates who your audience is, what problem you can solve and the solution you can offer.

Clear and concise communication is the key to gaining your customer’s business. You need to find out what they need and then outline how you can solve their problems.

Persistence

Once you’ve made a commitment to your core marketing message, avoid wavering from it. … Changing your tune confuses your audience about who you are and often does more harm than good.

Would you recognize Target without the bull’s eye? How about Nike without the swoosh? When your brand starts clicking, don’t change it for changes sake. Keep what works and rework what doesn’t.

Persuasiveness

Train yourself and your staff to understand how your brand addresses needs, and whenever you speak about your brand, be clear on how it can help the right prospects.

Performance

Make a commitment to delivering everything you promise and you’ll create loyal, repeat customers.

This is absolutely essential to a successful business. You must set the proper expectations with your clients and then deliver! I’ve had recent problems with Office Depot not delivering on their promises. This has severely undermined my confidence in that company. If you fail to deliver what you promise, you’ll scare away your current customers and many potential prospects.

Work on these 6 P’s of marketing and your return customer base will surely grow.

I received this little gem in my weekly newsletter from MarketingSherpa.com:

Lesson #5. Current customers equal best customers

Marketers seem to want to disprove this fact. They look at the
people who aren’t buying and think, “Look at all that potential!”

But … a company’s best prospects are their best [current] customers.

Don’t forget your current customers

We’ve talked about building customer relationships before. However, you’ll never fortify these bonds if you forget all about your existing customer base. Your current clients are those that got you to where you are today. They trust you enough to remain faithful to your company and continue to give you money. Don’t forget them!

Turn your customers into return customers

Since your existing customers already are familiar with your business and services they have one less barrier to overcome before spending more money with you. Odds are they already trust you and if they have been satisfied so far with your service, they can easily be converted into return customers. Maybe you can sell them the same service or product again. Or if the opportunity exists, you can up sell them to a new product or service you are offering.

In my web design business, I’ve had several clients for years that trust me explicitly with their sites. In their eyes, I am the expert and they will usually accept the advice I offer them even if that means that they’ll need to pay me a little more money. Since I am familiar with their businesses and needs, it is easier to see where the potential lies. I present them with solutions and turn my clients into return customers.

Take a look at your customer base. Do any of your current clients need another product or service you offer? Remember that repeat customers drive profitability and get to work!

Are you forgetting to give clients the necessary information to make a decision?

Yesterday I was looking at a Bill Pay service offered by my credit card company. My big question was: will I get frequent flyer miles for amounts I pay through bill pay? I go to my account’s website and click on the bill pay link searching for more details. Instead of an explanation of all the features, benefits, and requirements I get a sign up form and a long legal disclaimer. I start reading the legal mumbo jumbo looking for answers but find only more confusion:

“In-Network Payment” means a bill payment made with your credit card to a merchant which accepts credit cards through Bill Pay. … If your credit card has a rewards or points program, your bill payments are eligible to earn rewards or points. …
“Out-of-Network Payment” means a bill payment made with your credit card to a merchant which does not accept credit cards through Bill Pay … These bill payments do not earn rewards or points.

Great, so I realize that I’ll only get rewards if I pay in-network companies. So where is the list of in-network merchants? No where to be found. I’m not going to sign up for a service that may require me paying extra when I don’t even know it will give me what I want.

Explain Everything

If your product or service has great features, present them. If your service will have certain restrictions, make those clear up front. The lawyers may be happy with a lengthy “terms of service” agreement, but you need to augment that with straight forward explanations your customers will understand.

A recent research report on customer loyalty brings out some interesting points:

Eighty-two percent of Americans participating in customer loyalty programs have actively referred friends and family to their favorite loyalty programs, according to Parago’s 2004/2005 Customer Loyalty Research Report. The findings indicate that customers actively refer others to their favorite programs, especially high-income earners who tend to be more involved in loyalty and rewards programs.

So what does this mean to you? You want your customers to refer others to your business. The report highlights the reason for this:

With the cost of acquiring customers via traditional marking efforts continuing to increase, one can begin to imagine the dramatic effect referrals can have on a company’s bottom line.

Referrals are golden because people come to you with an established positive impression of your goods or services. Encourage your existing customers to refer others. The article continues with this advice:

The key to successful referrals is identifying the customers most likely to be advocates, then creating a focused referral program to track and reward their participation and subsequent impact.

You know your customers (well, at least you should) and can identify those that are already giving you comments and positive feedback. Invite these individuals to spread the good word about your company. Some may do it for free. Others may require a little compensation to motivate them. In either case, encouraging a system of referrals from your existing customer base can lead to magnificent growth and opportunities.