Understanding clients key to growing firm

The Irish Times/Business2000/Eighth Edition: In the final part of the series, John Downes looks at retaining customers while growing a business.

Amid the hustle and bustle which comes with starting your own business, it can be all too easy to forget that once the hard part is over, it will be necessary to take stock of what you have achieved.

While most of your energies until now will probably have been focused on keeping your head above water, other important questions will need to be addressed.

Where do you want your business to go in the future? How should you expand and grow your customer base? And what are the best ways to ensure you keep your existing customers coming back for more?

Ms Joanne Hession, managing director of R&H consulting, whose clients include start-ups, small and medium enterprises, says one key piece of advice she offers the promoters of such companies is to take time to sit back and assess how they wish their company to develop in the future.

This essential element of planning can be overlooked by individuals who understandably have been concentrating on overseeing every part of the company's day-to-day running, she says.

"Once you are up and running, you need to go back and see if you have the right systems for your company in place. Your business can't move forward unless you do this," she advises.

"In an orchestra, you can't play every instrument. So staff are absolutely paramount - having key people you can rely on."

Another vital part of the equation is the ability to network, she says. This can include the so-called "elevator pitch", where you are able to sell your product or service to a potential client within 10-15 seconds, even if you just bump into them in an elevator.

"Not many people do it very well but networking is often a free and easy way of promoting your business," she says.

"What I would do is encourage people to look for every advertising and promotional opportunity they can get. For example, if Gerry Ryan says he is thirsty [ during his radio show], and you have a cola to market, send him in a drink. It's another way of showing your wares to them."

But what about your existing customer base? What can you do to ensure they are happy with what you are offering them and will come back for more?

Mr Paul Gurhy is marketing manager with Bank of Ireland credit card services. He says the best way to ensure their repeat business is simple enough: just talk to them.

"We would call our customers on a regular basis and listen to their feedback," he explains. "We would also look at how people are using our product and see what opportunities this offers to improve our service to them but you can't beat talking to customers. They know an awful lot and will tell you."

This approach includes remaining aware of other developments in the market that you could introduce to your business, and looking for extra features that will encourage customers to continue to choose your product.

"Customer service is also critical, I suppose because there is a feeling that customer service in Ireland is starting to fall back again," Mr Gurhy says. "Maybe people are more aware of what good customer service is from travelling abroad."

But he stresses that offering good customer service includes acknowledging your mistakes and taking steps to remedy them.

"You are not going to go back to a shop that doesn't value your business," he says. "But customers, by and large, don't mind if you make a mistake once you acknowledge it. It's how you fix it."

Mr Ed McDonald, chief executive of the Marketing Institute of Ireland, agrees that customer service is important. But he says much depends on the type of business or product you are offering.

For example, if your product is something people will only need once, then you need to focus on how best to keep winning over new customers.

He says many small companies, which might have tight budgets, find public relations (PR) and direct marketing work better than a full-scale advertising campaign. By focusing your marketing towards a specific consumer base, direct marketing means you do not have to spend huge money on advertising space that might only reach a percentage of your target market, he says. But if you are looking to retain an existing customer, he underlines that other considerations come into play. Indeed, much depends on whether you are talking about a business-to-business or business-to-customer relationship.

For business to business, issues such as reliability, a fair price and comparability with other products on the market are all important. But if it is a business-to-customer relationship, he points out that companies will frequently be dependent on a third party, such as a retailer, to give their products the push they need.

In order to secure adequate prominence for your product in a store, you need good marketing skills to convince the retailer that your product will sell.

"Investment in marketing is critical for any company... You need to persuade two audiences - both the retailer and the consumer," he says. "But marketing is not just advertising and PR. The key is understanding who your customer is."