How To Retain Customers – Jaime “Jim” Hernandez
retain customers
SUMMARY
When doing business, we always think about how to get new clients but we forgot that we also have to consider how to retain customers who have already done business with us.The existing customers are the goldmine of the business. They are the people who know, like and trust the business already. Staying in touch and appreciating them is one way of letting them know that the business cares for them.On this episode, we have Jaime “Jim” Hernandez. He’s currently the President and CEO of Strategic Business Communications, Inc. He is also recognized as part of the Inc. 5000 list.Jim shares about client retention and how to give importance to the existing clients. He also talks about how people can mix business and friendship.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Retention and follow up is where the top 5% of salespeople live and the top businesses live.It makes the business easier for the seller and the customers if there’s a great relationship between the two parties.In doing business, you have to adapt to the customer; simple things like communication. If your customer wants to be called, emailed or texted, then you have to adapt to their chosen means of communication.Business is building trust and earning trust with clients.The top 5% of the salesperson had the word “caring” in their sales process with their customers.In whatever you do, you should be the expert of your chosen field.How To Retain Customers – Jaime “Jim” Hernandez
Luis CongdonHey, Thriving Launchers! Today, we are going to be talking about what the 5% best salespeople in the world are doing that helped them make more money than anyone else and helps their companies and businesses grow like crazy, so tune in to this episode about learning how to retain customers.
Kamala ChambersWe’re here with Jaime “Jim” Hernandez. We’re excited to have him here. He’s a President and a CEO and he’s been recognized in the Inc. 5000 list.
Luis CongdonAll right, Thriving Launchers! Let’s jump in. Jim, are you ready to launch?
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez I’m ready to launch!
Luis CongdonJim, you wanted to specifically discuss how to create better sales with new customers and how to retain customers which is such a big topic. Today, we’ll do our best to cover it.One of the things that I feel like a lot of people don’t understand is how to retain customers because they closed that sale, get that deal, and do the service but then they don’t know what else to do with it. They don’t really know what that means.
What It Means To Retain Customers
Luis CongdonWhat do you mean when you talk about strategies on how to retain customers or client retention?
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez The client retention has become a hot topic. The internet and advertising have changed completely. The internet has changed the advertising completely and building the relationships especially the last 4 sessions has really changed how people feel about this.What we’ve discovered in our work over the last 20 years is that retention and follow up is where the top 5% of salespeople live and the top businesses live.
Amazon And Google Implementing Ways Retain Customers
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez Even Amazon and Google measure big numbers on retaining customers. They know it’s a big deal so they want people to keep coming back because it’s less expensive.If you build a great relationship with the customer, then they’re going to refer their friends and family that makes business easier for the seller and the customer.
Kamala ChambersLet’s talk about some clear and concrete ways that people can implement this into their business.
Retain Customers By Adapting To Them
Kamala ChambersWhat are some of the top ways that you recommend how to do client follow up and retain customers?
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez What I found is that you have to adapt to the customer. Even working with folks at Nordstrom, they have the customers because they follow up for their sales or events or new products.They come in and say “Well Jim, I have my customers that wanted to be texted to. I have my customers that wanted to be emailed to. I have my customers who appreciate a phone call.”In my business, what I’ve learned is that I have to adapt to the customer. Even to the point when Blackberrys were around, I carried a second phone because my clients wanted to be BBMed. They wanted to be texted that way so I have multiple ways to communicate with them whether they are a phone call person, a text person, or an email person.
Retain Customers By Following Up With Them
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez Following up with them is how do they want to communicate even to the point when you have the opportunity to go old school with them and meet with them is such an important thing to do.
Luis CongdonHearing you talk about Nordstrom is interesting because I recall reading an article not too long ago about the top salespeople at Nordstrom. These are people on the ground floor.These people are making 6 figures annually selling suits and clothing. One of the people mentioned in that article says he has returning clients who have his personal cell phone.
Retain Customers By Building Friendship
Luis CongdonOne example he gave us is his client called and said “Hey, I need a suit. I want to drop in, grab it.” The sales floor person just went and found him the perfect suit. They came in. They paid for it and walked out. He talked about multiple examples of clients like this that you build this kind of relationship with each other.In business, most people they don’t know how to mix business and friendship. There’s a certain element of business and friendship.Have you found a certain way to do that, that you might suggest people on how they can do that or the importance of that two kinds of mixing?
Retain Customers By Earning Their Trust
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez Well, the big issue is trust and businesses building trust and earning trust with clients. Our online reviews conversations are all about trust and yet we don’t sometimes believe we need to build a relationship.Ways to build a relationship is don’t make it just about selling to the customer.
Retain Customers By Knowing What’s Going On In Their Lives
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez I guarantee you that salesperson that sells a suit like a gentleman that sells me my suits and deliver it to my door here at the office, he knows something about my life. He knows how I’m going to use my suits and he gets into the personal issues that affect me around what I’m selling.To give you an example, I worked with the salesperson in Panama City, Panama, who went from being amongst the best in Latin America to doubling that. His sales result went from 18 average sales per month to 35.The big thing he changed in his sales process as he took the database of the customers that he had. It was 10 years old. He started to work getting in contact with these people and following up with them.What happened was he became an uncontrolled version; he didn’t have time to wait for people to walk in the door. He built his business completely on customers would come back and referral from those customers.
Retain Customers By Adding The Word “Caring” To The Sales Process
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez We’re talking about a very traditional automobile sale that people have a bad opinion about because lots of people do it poorly. I’ve learned whether it would be automobiles or travel or insurance, the top 5% had the word “caring” to their sales process with their customers, which is what we really want. We want to be taken care of and cared about whether you are walking into a restaurant or buying an automobile.You mentioned buying a suit being taken care of. That’s why Nordstrom is so successful on how to retain customers. There’s actually somebody there to care about you. Lots of retail locations don’t even have any. You have to look for somebody in and they have somebody who is going to give you that personal attention that you’re looking for.
Kamala ChambersWhat are some of the most unique that you have seen people care for their customers?
Retain Customers – Ways To Show You Care For Them
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez When they really get to their customers, I have seen salespeople send out simple things like a gift for their baby when they have children or anniversary presents.I personally call them and sing Happy Birthday to them on their birthday.In fact, what I learned also to make my life easier is I deal with lots of CEO in multiple countries and they have great gatekeepers and their executive assistants and I happen to have the birthday of every executive assistant that I need to get by so that I can call them on their birthday to the point when I missed the 5th year in a row of not calling an executive assistance once, she was disappointed that I missed it
Luis CongdonThat is such a cool thing on how to retain customers. Are you talking about people that you
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez Yes!
Luis CongdonOr sometimes people you don’t know them and you call them and wish them “Happy birthday” as well?
Retain Customers By Calling Them Annually
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez I’m talking about clients that I’m trying to build a relationship with. I’ll call them on an annual basis.Last year, I hadn’t done business with the individual for 12 years but I knew how many kids he had now. The kids are all small. I’ll call him annually on his birthday and when his favorite soccer team wins because he’s from Central America, I’ll send him a note of Congratulations and we built a relationship around that.Over those 12 years, I maybe saw him once in an industry event but when it came to him needing our help, he picked up the phone and called. You want to become the person that takes care of.
Retain Customers By Being Their Specialist
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez Whatever you do, you want to be their specialist. I don’t buy suits from anybody else from the person that comes in that helps me with my suit or shirts. We got our travel from one person, we buy our automobiles from one dealership and I become loyal because they make me feel important.I think that’s where big business misses it. They are so focused on getting new sales, they forget about the great customers that they already have.
Retain Customers By Remembering Their Birthdays
Luis CongdonI know Thriving Launchers, you guys are probably wondering like how does Jim keep all these information together. I recall reading an article recently about Tom Cruise and whenever he does movies with people like the main co-stars that he does movies with, there’s an article about how he sends them all birthday gifts every year. He doesn’t miss a beat with that.One of the things I wonder if somebody is doing a lot of business, meeting a lot of all kinds of people, how do you keep that kind of information together in your head? What do you do to help yourself remember that kind of thing? It’s because I know that for me it’s not easy to remember people’s names, birthdays, or kids and so on especially when you whack up over a hundred clients. That’s a lot of data to keep together, what do you do for that?
Using Outlook To Retain Customers
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez I call it Outlook. People go “You’re amazing. You remember my birthday.” I‘d like to think I’m amazing but I have everything in my Outlook with my personal life and my business life, down to because I care about my kids.You can use Outlook for so many things. My wife puts in all their practices and all their games and other events so that when I’m traveling I can talk to them over the phone to how did they go their day with drum practice or basketball practice or something they had special going on at school.If you treat your clients the same way, it can make a big difference.
Using Contact Marketing To Retain Customers
Luis CongdonOne of the things that I’m finding cool about what you’re talking about is how it relates to a book that I’m reading right now. It’s all about what’s called Contact Marketing.For all of you listening, maybe you know or aware of funnels or you go to somebody’s website and you sign up and you get these emails. That feels nice and everybody’s doing that.There’s this whole other thing called Contact Marketing which is a lot more personal whether it’s meeting people and then sending them phone calls.One of the things that I like to do sometimes Jim is with some of my clients and some people who have come on to the podcast, I send them this little decks that I created back from when I used to work with married couples.I send them these decks that they can use as a couple and there are some signs behind it. It comes with a little article and it’s in this little plastic case and I send them that. People
Retain Customers By Giving Importance to Things You Have in Common
Luis CongdonOne of the things that you’re really making me think about is how a lot of times business is not about the business but it’s about the things you have in common and the relationship that you can build.
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez I have a great friend in the pest control business. He’s managed to grow here in Southern California. You can imagine pest control. There’s a lot of competition. He’ll even admit that they have to spray the same chemicals because the business is so regulated. It comes down to how they do it and how they take care of their clients.Making a difference in somebody’s life and making it personal and really taking care of them, the relationship. He has 300 people in trucks driving around Southern California handling everything from Target and Starbucks to my house.It’s how they go about that makes the difference not necessarily what they have or how much they charge.
Retain Customers – Send Gifts That Are Personalized
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez In fact, there’s a great book when you talk about sending things. When you try to build a relationship, you have to be careful with these because companies have regulations especially in the Fortune 500.There’s a great book called Giftology. It’s kind of an extreme version of giving corporate gifts but rather than having a pen or a cup or a water bottle. Coming up something unique and personal to them without your company name on it but they’ll remember you for is another way to build the relationship.
Kamala ChambersI love that. It’s about really personalizing it.Before we wrap up here, is there anything else that maybe we haven’t already covered that you want to make sure we talk about in terms of building and creating those client relationships and learning how to retain customers?
Retain Customers – Stay in Touch With Them
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez If you want to thrive in sales, you to do what the top 5% do. It’s about staying in touch with your existing clients and then building your prospecting effort starting with those existing clients.Sometimes, we direct to sales organizations to go out and chase new business. They forget about the existing ones.The goldmine is always in the existing clients so that’s what I would tell them where to start if they really want to grow their business and profits.
Retain Customers – Give Importance To Your Existing Clients
Jaime “Jim” Hernandez If you want to thrive in sales, you to do what the top 5% do. It’s about staying in touch with your existing clients and then building your prospecting effort starting with those existing clients.Sometimes, we direct to sales organizations to go out and chase new business. They forget about the existing ones.The goldmine is always in the existing clients so that’s what I would tell them where to start if they really want to grow their business and profits.
Luis CongdonThriving Launchers, I feel that’s a great note to end on here and a great reminder. Stay in touch with the people that already know, like, and trust you and keep that trust going. Keep that “like” and that connection going.I know it’s something as I’ve done this interview with Jim that I’ve thought about “Man, there are some people I haven’t reached out to in a while and I’ve been focused a little too much on some new clients and getting new clients.”It’s something that definitely drives a business. Business growth a lot of times we think about front-loading it and getting those new clients through the door but we forget that the existing clients or clients who we haven’t talked to in a while, they’ve already invested in us. They’ve already shown that they like us.
Retain Customers – Reach Out To People Who Have Already Done Business With You
Luis CongdonThriving Launchers, go and reach out to the people that have already done business with you. Just say hello or wish them “Happy Birthday” or “Happy Anniversary.” Make sure to connect with those people because they are the people who are probably waiting to hear from you. Once they do, they’ll be excited to buy something from you or refer someone to you.Until next time Thriving Launchers, we’ll see you on the next episode.
