Sustainable Business Model - Compelling Place to Buy

The third step in the model is creating a compelling to buy, giving your customers reasons to do business with you. This includes:

Superior Client Satisfaction Quality products Exceptional services

No matter what the size of the business, a satisfied customer will raise profits. A recent study showed that a common element featured in 'best practice' organisations is that they understand the importance of their customers and allocate resources accordingly.

Although it may seem obvious that the financial success of a business is dependent on its customers, customer satisfaction is now regarded as no longer merely a means to increasing profit, it is necessary just to remain competitive. As new clients are ever more difficult to find, holding on to current customers is critical. It is harder to find new customers, and it is also cheaper to retain existing clients than it is to attract new ones. This means that customer loyalty and retention should be key goals of a business.

Superior Client Satisfaction

Research published in Harvard Business Review, London Business School, Insead and many other publications show that only 14% of customers who stop patronizing a business do so because of the quality of the product. More than 65% leave because they find the service indifferent or unhelpful.

A key element of a compelling place to buy is to create a reason for your customers to continually buy and also to refer others. Companies can create a reason for customers to buy by measuring satisfaction levels, gaining feedback, complaints and comments, and market research. Employees who interact with customers regularly can create a company system that captures and shares an understanding of the consumer through effective listening.

Quality Products

At the core of acquiring and retaining customers is the ability to have a solution to their product needs that meet their requirements. This often means having the capacity to change the product offering as a result of client and market research.

Exceptional Services

While developing and maintaining a quality product or service is essential to attracting and sustaining clients, handling clients in a professional, friendly manner from start to finish will help your business become a more compelling place to buy. Customers and clients need to feel that their individual needs are being looked after, as well as feeling safe in the knowledge that they are receiving the best quality product available to them. This can be emphasized through an exceptional level of service

A Result of Creating a Compelling Place to Buy: Customer Retention

Today's customer needs more than satisfactory service to remain loyal. It is only when customers are 'totally satisfied' that they are committed to a company. Customer research conducted by Xerox found that customers who rated their satisfaction 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 were six times more likely to repurchase than those customers who rated their satisfaction 4.

To create totally satisfied customers companies need to know two things about their market: who they are and what they want. An ongoing relationship with a customer creates a steady stream of revenue over time as the customer continues to buy products. The costs associated with marketing decline, and, in many cases, so do the costs of serving the customer who becomes familiar with the company, its product lines, and procedures.

Research shows that the best measure of customer satisfaction and retention is whether or not clients would recommend your business to another business associate. Those that do are effectively acting as promoters for you company, increasing both customer retention rates and new customers.

Case Study

Click here to see a case study showing how creating a compelling place to buy can provide a foundation for sustainable business growth.