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These days I hear many excuses for reps losing customers. The most prevalent by far is price. “The other company had a better price. There was nothing I could do.”

While price is always a factor, very rarely is it the main consideration when considering a switch, the best estimates put the percentage at about seven percent. The reality is, many reps simply aren’t building strong relationships and they use price and other excuses when the customer naturally goes elsewhere. If you build a strong relationship and keep customers happy, they won’t jump ship the first chance they get. Also, if you thrill customers such that they are customers for life, they are much more likely to refer friends and family, thus increasing business and making your life a whole lot easier. In addition, if you’re working with happy, life-long customers all day, your work and life will be much more enjoyable.

Keys to Keeping Customers for Life

• Always make the customer your number-one priority

You must bend over backwards for the customer and make sure that every experience with you and your company is an absolute pleasure. This begins with the number-one rule of customer service: making sure the customer is always right. It also means doing what you say you’ll do when you say you’ll do it, and going above and beyond, doing more than you get paid for, to make sure the customer is always pleasantly surprised by the extra service they receive. In addition, the customer comes before paperwork, phone calls, and other tasks you need to get done. When customers think of the best customer service they’ve ever received, you should be the one that comes to mind. They should always feel like a V.I.P.

• Keep communicating

While some people require more communication than others, you want to reach out to people on a regular basis. This includes sending at least three cards to everyone you do business with: a birthday card, holiday card, and anniversary card on the date you started doing business with them. You also want to have your e-mail customers on an e-mail list that you send something of value to once a month. The title should make the content obvious to the recipient. In addition, you should talk to each client on the phone a minimum of once or twice a year, and meet with them in person at least once a year to review their coverage and find out if anything has changed that might affect their coverage.

A note on your cards: make sure they are personally signed by you in blue ink. Better yet, handwrite a personal note. If you don’t have good handwriting, you can have the note printed, but make sure you still sign it no matter what your signature looks like. Everyone — from teenagers to centenarians — appreciates a hand-written note.

• Personalize the relationship and always seek to build and strengthen it

You want to take a personal interest in customers. Where are they from, where did they go to school, what interests do they have, do they have kids, grandkids, are they married? What activities are the people in their lives involved in? Once you have this information, show interest in what makes each customer unique. Ask about children, grandchildren, their personal interests, and the like.

Also, ask customers for their personal preferences and do business with them according to those preferences. For example, do people prefer e-mail or hardcopy? Are they okay receiving their renewal in the mail, or would they rather you deliver it personally? Yes, these are extra steps, but they are extra steps that your competition is more than likely not taking.

Ultimately you want to move customers from acquaintances, to friends, to good friends. The better relationship you have with a customer, the more likely they are to stay with you. If all your customers are good friends, and you take good care of them, they will stay with you.

• Let them know you appreciate their business and that you don’t take them for granted

Thank customers for their business on a continual basis. You should be saying “Thank you for your business, I really appreciate it” and/or “Thank you for being a customer” during phone calls and in-person meetings. You don’t have to mention this in the birthday and holiday cards you send out, but you do want to mention it in the anniversary card as that is the main focus. The primary objective of the holiday and birthday cards is to add a personal touch.

The Bottom Line

Treat customers right by making them a priority, taking a personal interest in them, and by letting them know that you appreciate and care about them.