If you want to succeed in the cutthroat world of business, you need to make lifelong connections with your customers. When you provide great service and value to a customer, you will create a lifelong relationship that will help your business to survive the lean times. Businesses who fail to gain lifelong customers will be doomed to failure in the long-run. To avoid that dire fate, follow these three tips to create lifelong customers who will be the lifeblood of your business.

1. Provide Excellent Customer Service

This is the one technique that is most effective to create lifelong customers. Any company can promote low prices and have sales to entice customers, but it won’t win them long-term business if they fail to provide an adequate level of customer service. Whenever your customer has an issue or problem, you need to go above and beyond the call of duty to fix it. Customers will always select the company that distinguishes itself with excellent customer service. If you offer phenomenal customer service just one time, you will often create a lifelong customer.

2. Don’t Forget the Thank You

When a customer is gracious enough to order with your company, you need to show your appreciation right away. You should be sure to thank them graciously right away. You also need to send them a thank-you note or give them a thank-you phone call within a week of their order. When you do this, be sure to ask them if everything is okay with their purchase. Showing your concern and gratitude is a part of creating a strong relationship with customers, and creating relationships is what successful sales is all about.

3. Create Relationships

Sales is a part of business that is all about relationships. You need to make your customers friends. This means being curious about their life outside of business. Be sure to ask them about their families and hobbies. Also, wining and dining customers is still an important part of being a sales star. If you want to do this successfully, then you need to know your customers’ interests. If you satisfy their desires, they will become your lifelong friends and customers both, providing you with good reviews on customer satisfaction sites like OpenTell.com.

Friendly and Thoughtful

As long as you are sincerely friendly with your customers and provide them with excellent customer service, you should have no problem making them lifelong customers. As long as you do this, you will be assured that your business will survive in the lean times and thrive the rest of the time.