In the recent wake of the Comcast "customer service" viral audio clip, perhaps it's time that we all remember the value of each individual customer.
Seth Godin says that few businesses really understand how much a customer is worth.
Amen, Seth.
Godin, author of The Tipping Point and a couple other 200-page best-sellers, figures that, for instance, an average AT&T or Verizon customer is worth at least a couple thousand dollars.
Godin asks, “If every one of your customers were worth $2,000, how long would you keep her holding on the telephone, waiting at the counter or cash register, or with how many people for whom English is a second language would she have to speak to get help?”
The greatest marketing guru of all time, Ted Levitt, said that the objective of business is to create a customer; create and hold a customer. Yet, too many business people act like they never get it. Oh, they nod their heads, but they don't act. Otherwise, you and I wouldn't experience the kind of frustrations we do when we become customers.
The most valuable element in your business, whatever it is, is a customer. Start spending some of the money you spend to get new customers on keeping the ones you already have. It's a better investment.
Figure-out what your average customer is worth. It might scare you.
To reach Mr. Malmo, hear and read more of his commentaries, or to ask him your own marketing question, http://askmalmo.com.
