分类: 其他平台
2013-10-16 19:07:01
The risks of poverty also have been increasing in recent decades, particularly among people ages 3555, coinciding with widening income inequality. For instance, people ages 3545 had a 17% risk of encountering poverty during the 19691989 time period; that risk increased to 23% during the 19892009 period. For those ages 4555, the risk of poverty jumped from 11.8% to 17.7%.
Higher recent rates of unemployment mean the lifetime risk of experiencing economic insecurity now runs even higher: 79%, or 4 in 5 adults, by the time they turn 60.
3 Tips to Avoid Losing Customers
Nothing short of winning the lottery is going to take away all of our fears. Nothing. And it a given that customers can be fickle they looking to save money just as much as we looking to make money. The two are almost mutually exclusive, so we always looking for that edge that balance that will make us as profitable as possible, keep our current customers happy, and win lots of new customers. But there no guarantee no magic potion or formula. It often trial and error. hit and miss. Some sink while trying to figure it out, some flounder for a long time, and some. thankfully. thrive and grow.
If you losing customers, or just afraid you going to lose customers as the economy gets tighter and tighter and the remaining competition gets cutthroat, there are a few things you can do to tighten that bond with the customer and figure out exactly what they looking for so that you may be able to meet their needs even better than you have been so far.
This won work for all businesses, but it will for many. I not big on filling out surveys the only ones I usually like are the ones I conduct on my own. But the few that I do get involved in that really draw me in are the ones that offer me something in return like a discount or coupon on a future purchase. You do that with your customers and you can gain some great demographic information and learn a lot about what your customer thinks about you and your product offering, while keeping them coming back for more because you just gave them something to use next time they need services like yours.
2 Contact your longterm customers directly by phone
To make sure that you maintain that close personal relationship with your best customers, reach out to them by phone periodically. Talk to them about what you offer or are doing that they like, and what they would like to see changed. Ask them to be candid and let them know that you seriously interested in their honest feedback. Consider it sort of a learned session we all can use those from time to time.
3 Analyze customer purchase trends
This is something you probably should be doing all along, but with smaller businesses run by one or two very busy people, it can be extremely difficult to set aside the time to do it right. What you need to do is select a time period maybe it the past six months, maybe a full year and see who your best customers are, where they coming from, what they are purchasing, how much they spending, etc.
You would think this would be a nobrainer to want to know this, but you be surprised at how many big businesses aren really paying attention to this either. I did analysis work that was sort of like this for a very large Midwestern grocery chain figuring out what their top ten sellers in each department were. Yes, you would think that their two hundred stores were already doing this and you would think that the corporate office had a standard way to do this, but that was not the case. It took a forwardthinking store manager to bring me in to help and then other regionally located stores from the same chain wanted the same services from me. It turned out nicely for me, but what a sad statement about this large organization that they had no reporting structure already in place to ensure that all stores are being as profitable as possible.