Obtaining and Retaining Customers - Part I

At the heart of this book is the belief that to survive and prosper in today’s competitive environment, irrespective of the type of business concerned, a focus on the needs of the customers is paramount – if customer don’t get what they want, they go elsewhere and with the contemporary digital environment, going elsewhere has never been easier to do.

As such customer retention has grown to be a strategic issue for organisations. Peters (1989) in Thriving on Chaos, puts it succinctly;

“It boils down to this: when you build a plant, it starts depreciating the day it opens. The well-served customer, on the other hand, is an appreciating asset. Every small act on their behalf ups the odds for repeat business, add-on business and priceless word-of-mouth referral.”

This book looks at the techniques that have emerged as a result of this type of thinking, and whilst there is attention giving to attracting – “Obtaining” – customers the emphasis is squarely on retaining and growing customers.

Content

1. Why do Customers Count?
   1. Changes in the business environment
2. Developing a Customer Oriented Business
   1. The Customer’s Perception is everything
   2. So why do customers buy?
   3. Measure to Improve
3. Obtaining Customers
   1. How do we attract customers: Marketing
   2. Obtaining Customers; the sales perspective
   3. Value-based marketing: marketing metrics
   4. Marketing Basics
   5. Understanding needs
   6. Profiling, Segmentation & Targeting
   7. Issues in 21st century marketing
   8. The offer
   9. CRM – Customer Relationship Management