There is Nothing as Good as a ‘Thank You’ to Your Customers

They say that customers may forget what you did to them but they will never forget what you made them feel.

The most important aspect of every business is a customer. The blessing to every business is a new customer. The lifetime of a business is a customer who comes back after the first experience, not to complain but to purchase more. The worst tragedy to a business is an unsatisfied customer.

What most businesses have failed to understand is that treating a customer to their expectation has always been and will always be one of the critical competitive advantages for any business.

On Thursday, one of the leading insurance companies in East Africa, Takaful Insurance of Africa (TIA) organized an event in Mombasa and dedicated the whole week to just telling their customers, “Thank You.” During the event, existing customers and some members of the staff were awarded various prices but what stood out and caught my attention, is the “Thank You” bit.

“Thank You” might seem such a simple and common phrase but in business, it is worth than a sale. Remember, great businesses make customers and average businesses make sales. In business, it is worth to make a customer than a sale. “Thank You” can win you a customer. It can win you loyalty and in the end, it brings prosperity to your business.

Loyalty is rare. Once earned, it should not be taken for granted because once lost, it is never recovered. What is recovered is ‘pretense.’ Having a one loyal customer is golden and should never be treated as ‘It is normal. They come to us because we have a name.’

Not all your customers will be happy and it is not good for a business to have all customers who are happy. That way, the business will never grow. Bill Gates says that your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. They make you grow. They make you change. Most importantly, they make you innovate.

What Takaful did on Thursday is what every business should emulate; spending time talking and listening to customers face to face. In the words of Ross Perot, spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. You’d be amazed how many companies don’t listen to their customers.

As I pen down, remember, your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.