How to Rock at Customer Retention Like Bon Jovi

 There was a lot of hair in the 80's.

Do you remember it? If you lived through it, then you'll never forget it.

When I hear a song from White Snake or Scorpion, it’s hard not to turn it up. Why is that? What is it about the 80's that made such an impression on people?

Of all the bands from the 80's, lets look at Bon Jovi for just a minute. Why? If you visit their Facebook page, they currently have 21,576,937 followers. That's pretty good for a band that had it's hay day in the 80's. Why are they still around and why do so many people still love them?

I believe the answer will help improve customer retention in your business.

Customer Retention is Mind Blowing

It was a time for romance, independence, and exploration. People needed a voice that would allow them to experience those feelings.

The musicians of the time were paying attention to what people wanted and guess what, they gave it to them in full force. They delivered the energy, the big hair and the loud guitars. They moved their audience (their customers), and they did it every time without fail.

As a business owner, what can you do to listen to your customers and give them exactly what they're looking for? Even more than that, how can you bring it in full force? Stop working for your customers and start blowing their minds. Turn up the amplifiers, create a movement, and shock them with your full attention. Not only will customer retention increase, but you'll have a lot more fun with it.

Customer Retention is Affordable

I often teach business owners to invest between 6% and 8% of revenues on marketing. That money is for meeting new customers and introducing them to your brand. Once you finally get someone in the door, give them everything you’ve got and more. Customer retention is more affordable than having to pay for new customers all the time.

When you do that, what’s the natural result? You create chatter boxes. People will naturally gravitate towards something that works well. They'll tell their friends, they'll blog about it and they'll evangelize. Actually, if you business treats them poorly, they do all of that and more but in a negative way.

Do you honestly think Bon Jovi had millions of fans showing up to their first show? Of course not. They wrote music that people loved, and they delivered at each and every performance. So there's the difference.

Bon Jovi's Appraoch to Customer Retention:

1. Write a great song. Make sure that your company delivers a product or service that will move people emotionally. Yes its possible to do this even if you own a plumbing business or are an accountant...
2. Once you get an opportunity to perform for your audience (demo your product and service), listen to their needs and give them exactly what they want.

If you do that, how much do you think you’ll need to spend in marketing money to get 1,000 customers? I can tell you this... If you complete the above steps, your customers will market for you and that's a beautiful thing.

Avoid Trendy and Shoot for the Core

To increase your customer retention rates, you need to find your customer's core problem. I'm sure there are several problems that your business solves. I don't care about any of those. What's the core problem you solve?

One issue is that new trends pop up all the time. Those trends can distract you from your real mission - Solving the core problem.

If you become a business that's always jumping into trendy strategies, you're going to miss the mark. Stay focused and nail the core problem with clean and clear accuracy.

The 80’s were trend city. I know. However, White Snake and Bon Jovi are still going strong and guess how long their hair is… Yep. It’s still long. Why? Because their audience loves it. Their not being trendy. Their simply giving their audience what they ask for.

To see how this applies to customer retention, watch the video below and pay attention to how you feel.

Did the song inspire memories for you? Do you like that song? It was written in 1986. How is it possible that a song written 27 years ago can still have such a big impact on people? It still moves people today because Bon Jovi does a great job of listening to their audience and giving them what they want.

If you're changing your business model just to be different, you’re being trendy. If you’re changing your business model to answer a core customer question, you’re being helpful to your customers.

Action Item: Are you meeting your customer's core need in the strongest way possible? If not, get to it. Go figure out what you need to add, change, reduce, or rebuild in order to cut out the garbage and satisfy their core need. After that, figure out how you can "wow" them every time you serve them. Once you do that, you'll have customers pouring through your doors.

Customer retention is one of the best parts of being a business owner when you rock at it.