All of you that receive this newsletter are part of PBK’s Reward Program.  Our Class Act Partner Program is designed to recognize you as a top customer and reward you for your loyalty.  We build the personal side of the relationship with your dedicated sales rep that hopefully knows your name and reaches out to you often.  Think about how PBK’s program has impacted your buying decisions….  How can you design something that will work the same way for YOUR customers?

Do you know that it costs about five times more money to acquire one new customer than it does to continue selling to an existing customer?  This is a proven fact, and existing customers tend to spend more than a new customer!

A rewards program should be designed to promote the frequency in which a customer would be tempted to visit your store.  Hopefully you have been using some method of data gathering to know who your best customers are. If you haven’t been gathering data, that is the first step.  You need to know the frequency and the volume of sales each customer is generating.  I would suggest checking out your competition, what are your neighbor stores doing to reward customers?

You know your customers the best, think about what would be enticing to them.  What can you afford to give away?  Besides more frequent visits, maybe you can entice them to bring a friend for an additional discount or free gift, thus expanding your customer base.  Be sure to keep the rewards obtainable within a reasonable amount of time with some immediate benefits as well.  You can assign points for each dollar spent and then rewards at different point levels.  Double points days around fun events bring energy to the program as well.  Be sure to get personal, recognize the customers’ birthday and first visit anniversary with special offers.

The challenge of small business to compete with the bigger box and discount stores is ongoing.  Building that relationship and loyalty is key to success.  I personally support the small boutique shop before I support a big box store, especially when I feel a connection to the shop owner and I want them to succeed!   Build those relationships by recognizing your customers through rewards!