Tell them the truth – that they haven't been buying products or
services from your firm for quite a while and you sense
something is wrong. Make sure that you communicate this in
a way that absolutely conveys your genuine concern for their
well-being.
After you caringly express concern for the lack of contact and
business that you company has had with them ask the
question, "Is anything wrong?" Follow that up before your
customer responds by adding, "Have we done something
wrong or did we offend you? If we did, it certainly wasn't
intentional. Is everything all right with your business, job,
family, health etc.?
Believe it or not, this simple approach has a magical affect on
your inactive customers (just like it does on your spouse).
Don't underestimate this strategy. Even big companies use it.
When Continental Airlines was about to go under in 1994,
Greg Brenneman, a former consultant suggested to Gordon
Bethune, CEO of Continental, that they win back their
customers by calling them and personally asking for
forgiveness and for a second chance.
Greg Brenneman, who later became Continental's Chief
Operating Officer, and Gordon Bethune both got on the
phones with their executive staff and started to call their best,
inactive customers one-by-one.
It worked like gangbusters. Inactive customers who were dissatisfied
with Continental were impressed by the personal phone call and came
back in droves. Since then its stock has risen 1,700%.
To maximize this strategy you might consider asking your
customers what they are lacking and then find out how to
solve it. As the sayings go…
Find a need and fill it. Find a hurt and heal it. Find an itch and
scratch it.
Virtually every successful small businessperson you ask will
tell you that finding and meeting unmet wants is the name of
the game when it comes to winning customers. The better you
do this, the more customers' you'll win.
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