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Hello. As the holidays approach I find myself thinking more about helping those less fortunate. So, this time we'll talk about aligning yourself with good causes to help others and your business. As a holiday present to you, I'm donating $1 for each Think reader to Charlotte Reads, our local literacy program. Thanks to all who completed our survey. Click here for results. Customer retention ranked high, so we'll delve into that, as well.
Let's get started.
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Adopting Good Causes Adopting good causes can be beneficial for employee morale, garner publicity for you, as well as surround your business with a halo for its community service. Your charitable involvement should be planned just as you plan any other business activity. So, I present Hoover ink's Five Steps To Effective Charitable Involvement. Choose Your Cause Strategically. Search for a charitable cause that you and your employees can believe in, as well as one that helps advance your business objectives. For instance, Hoover ink's involvement in literacy and education makes sense for a communications firm. But, it also lines up with my personal belief that the ability to read is the key to unleashing the power of the individual. Perform Due Diligence. Once you have identified the cause, check out the individual charities involved in that cause just as you would any other strategic ally. Do they deserve your support? Are they well run? What are their objectives, goals, successes and failures? Who are their executives and board members? Do they have any complaints lodged against them? How much of their money goes to salaries and overhead and how much actually gets to those it serves? Here is a link to help you evaluate charities. Establish Goals. Now, that you have selected your charity, determine what it is you want to accomplish with your involvement from a business perspective. Are you looking for networking opportunities at the board or donor level? Do you want to raise your business' profile through publicity of your involvement? Set your goals and then you can determine what resources, both time and money, to budget for the cause. Dive In. Although writing a check to the charity will help, this should not be the extent of your involvement. Get involved on the board or as a volunteer. Engage your employees in projects with the charity. Give them a "charitable time" budget each month that lets them use business hours to perform their service with your chosen charity. Communicate. Develop a simple, direct and compelling message that not only explains the cause but the reason your company is involved. Promote the cause in customer mailings and in your advertising. Create joint events with your nonprofit partner to attract customers, prospects and media coverage. Selecting and supporting the right cause for your company can build profit, brand equity, as well as employee and customer loyalty, while improving the world. So, what could be better than that? |
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Cheap To Keep You've heard it all before when it comes to stats about customer retention. Acquiring a customer costs five to 10 times more than retaining one. Repeat customers spend, on average, 67 percent more. After 10 purchases a customer has referred as many as seven other people. So, if your focus is on acquiring new customers instead of keeping the ones you have, you are off the mark. Here is a brief overview on how to retain customers.
New business is exciting, I'll admit. But it is the clients you have that will bring you the most success over the long run. Don't spend five to 10 times more to bring in that new customer. Instead, invest a fraction of that to keep your customers coming back and referring similar "best" customers.
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