The current economic climate is causing customers to be more selective. Most businesses can only guess at the reasons customers leave, mainly because they don’t gather that information or develop a formal strategy to retain customers until after they leave.

1. Find out what customers want and what causes them to stay or leave.

First, conduct a survey with existing customers. Ask customers what they want and need, as well as which specific aspects of your business, products, services they value most. In addition, conduct a separate survey with former customers to find out what specifically caused them to leave.

2. Proactively collect and promote customer feedback.

Don’t wait until there is a problem to contact or follow up with customers. Instead, set up communication channels to encourage sincere two-way communication with them, and then use those channels to actively solicit and collect their feedback.

3. Use technology to manage and analyze customer feedback, and ensure the right people see and hear it.

Companies can easily have as many as 35 or more tools in place to listen to the customer. These tools frequently duplicate efforts and constitute a tremendous amount of time and resources. By the time feedback is tabulated, analyzed and shared, the input is weeks or months old.

4. Analyze customer feedback to gain valuable insights.

Once you’ve gathered feedback from customers, analyze it to find out:

• The type of customer feedback and the percentage in each category (complaints, suggestions, comments, concerns)
• The channel most used by customers to provide feedback (Web, phone, in-person, etc.)
• The underlying drivers of customer loyalty and engagement (i.e. the main reasons that customers do business with you, how they are emotionally connected to your business)
• The current strength and depth of customer loyalty and engagement
• New revenue and growth opportunities for your business

5. Immediately address customers’ complaints and concerns.

To make the most of your customer feedback, put together an action plan that focuses on addressing and resolving any areas that are causing customers concern. In conjunction, establish standards of excellence and share best practices with others in your organization.

6. Take action and Measure the Results.

Use customer feedback to make improvements, and then measure the impact of the changes you made. Some of the areas that you may want to consider measuring include customer retention rate, revenue per customer, customer referrals, customers saved due to feedback, etc.

7. Actively measure and monitor your customers’ loyalty and engagement.

Customers today are bombarded with attractive offers all the time. If they see a better deal based on price, quality or service, they feel pressure to switch brands or stores. To combat this, regularly measure and monitor your customers’ loyalty, satisfaction and engagement. Then use that information to make adjustments.

8. Create and nurture a company culture that embraces and is committed to using customer feedback.

Embrace feedback by dedicating resources to acting on customer feedback. This involves training all your employees on what they can do to assist you in building a more loyal customer base.

9. Keep asking, listening, analyzing and improving.

Customer needs, wants and concerns are constantly changing. So, keep asking and listening to customers’ feedback, and analyzing that feedback on an ongoing basis. By doing so, your business will be able to not only retain more customers, but continually tap into fresh, new customer preferences and attitudes that you can use to create new products, services, and programs tailored to their needs.

- Barbara Wold, International Speaker, Author and Business Strategist, Global Retail, Consumer and Tourism Expert, Keynote Presentations — Seminars & Workshops — Retreats, Manager Meetings & Corporate Conferences, Downtown Revitalization & Merchant Retention

CONTACT INFORMATION:
9795 Jefferson Parkway, Suite F1, Englewood, CO  80112 USA
+1.720.542.3055
bwold@ix.netcom.com
Barbara_Wold@comcast.net

Near North Entrance to Hillsdale Farmers Market in parking lot behind Hillsdale Pharmacy/The Portland Ballet.

Springfest Health & Wellness Fair will have over 30 local vendors, live music, clowns, magicians…and an inflatable obstacle course…all free to participants. Happening the same day is the opening of the summer season for the Hillsdale Farmers Market and the Rieke Elementary School Art Fair.

May 6th will be an amazing day in Hillsdale! See you there!

Sponsored by:
Fanno Creek Clinic
Gifford Family Dentistry
Food Front Cooperative Grocery

Have we identified any projects you do NOT feel should occur in Hillsdale?
Have we missed any key projects?
Have we prioritized projects appropriately?
Do you have any further comments regarding the plan?

To access the plan, click here.

We will be collecting comments until Friday, April 20th. Please send all comments to Megan Braunsten, Executive Director: MeganB@HillsdaleMainStreet.org

Thank you for taking time to help plan for Hillsdale’s future!

Have we identified any projects you do NOT feel should occur in Hillsdale?
Have we missed any key projects?
Have we prioritized projects appropriately?
Do you have any further comments regarding the plan?

To access the plan, click here.

We will be collecting comments until Friday, April 20th. Please send all comments to Megan Braunsten, Executive Director: MeganB@HillsdaleMainStreet.org

Thank you for taking time to help plan for Hillsdale’s future!

Board of Directors – As the policy makers and fiscal agents for the program, the Board worked hard to bring this new organization to life.  Employee turnover led to the hiring of Megan Braunsten as Executive Director in March.  Once everyone had their feet under them, the Board held a retreat, setting goals for all HMS work for the coming 2-3 years.

Sustainability Committee – Composting was the theme for this year’s Sustainability Committee projects.  They created a composting display for the farmers market that assisted residents to learn more about composting at home.  They began working with all Hillsdale restaurants to move toward making composting a regular part of their routine.  Finally, they assisted with all other HMS events to ensure that recycling and composting was available.

Promotion Committee  - HMS 2011 promotions were perhaps the most visible projects of the year.  With the goal of bringing many residents and visitors into the district, the Promotions Committee successfully hosted the 2011 Springfest (5,000 attendees), Movie in the Park (400+ attendees), monthly 3rd Thursday events and the joint Golden Ticket holiday promotion with Multnomah Village.  The committee also launched the HMS website: www.Hillsdalemainstreet.org, and began the branding process for Hillsdale.

Organization Committee – The backbone of the program, the Organization Committee grew the volunteer list to over 190 people, who gave over 2,800 hours of their time, helped raise over $130,000 in donations and project grants, and successfully hosted the 1st annual Hillsdale Paella Dinner.

Economic Restructuring – Two of the most heralded projects were accomplished by the ER Committee in 2011 – a Business/Customer Survey produced by a group of Community Development students from PSU, and a Trade Area Analysis utilizing the brand new 2010 Census data.  These two reports have been used widely by property owners, potential new businesses, as well as current businesses.

Design Committee – The Design Committee is charged with improving the streetscape, and in 2011 this work culminated in the addition of landscaping strips along Capitol Highway, which once planted in Spring 2012 will add color and nature to the business district, as well as new healthy street trees on the north side.  Design work also began on the Hillsdale District Design Plan, a master plan that will prioritize all physical improvements that HMS could work on for the next 5+ years.

Overall, 2011 was an exciting start-up year.  All committees are already working hard on projects for 2012.  Stay tuned…

One of five HMS committees, the Sustainability Committee assists Hillsdale businesses to become more competitive and profitable by using energy, water and materials more efficiently. They also assist the other 4 committees in adopting strategies that promote sustainability.  With many successes already under their belt, the Sustainability Committee is currently working on increasing the number of businesses composting in Hillsdale, exploring adding public recycling containers, and partnering with the City’s Sustainability at Work program, which does free sustainability audits of businesses.  HMS seeks someone interested in chairing this committee.  The appropriate applicant should be able to:

• Hold the larger vision of Main Street and the purpose of the committee
• Lead and nurture other committee volunteers
• Facilitate monthly meetings
• Join one of the project committees
• Keep abreast of all committee projects
• Present to the Board of Directors as needed
• Work closely with the Executive Director to obtain appropriate support for the above
• Commit 7-10 hours per month

If this sounds like a position you would like or have questions, please contact Megan Braunsten, Executive Director at meganb@hillsdalemainstreet.org.

May 17, 2012 – LADIES NIGHT OUT
This month is all about the ladies!  Pedicures, massages, drink discounts and so much more await ladies joining us for the May 17th 3rd Thursday event.  For a full schedule of events, click here.