How to Build a Customer Retention Program (with Swire Ho)

Angela Frank: 00:00:00

Today on The Growth Pod, we have Swire Ho. Welcome to the podcast.

Swire Ho: 00:00:04

Thank you for having me here, Angela.

Angela Frank: 00:00:06

immigrated to Los Angeles in: 1996

firm, Hellman production, in: 2003

rts, earning a score Award in: 2009

Today, you are going to be sharing how to build a customer retention program. So before we get started, can you share a little bit about why you're the expert on this topic? Why should we listen to you?

Swire Ho: 00:00:59

Yeah. Thank you for the warm introduction. There's always a good topic to discuss, you know, as you are, you know, the growth detective for helping clients.

You know that the amount of work that it takes to acquire a new client, right? So we try a lot of things, we spend a lot of money to have the client through the door.

But after they became customer, a lot of the company that I talked to spend actually no money on retaining those customers. So that's why I wanted to, you know, to discuss the importance for having a customer retention program.

Basically, it's just to keep your client happy and then they became repeat customer because it's always cheaper to get orders from a repeat customer than to acquire a new customer every single time.

Angela Frank: 00:01:45

Absolutely. So with that, it tees off our topic really nicely. Can you share with us what. What is a customer retention program?

Swire Ho: 00:01:54

It's basically steps that you keep them happy, you keep them engaged.

Because a lot of time when we, let's say we purchase a product and service, right, if the company don't reach out to us, we forget about who they are. So maybe the next time we come around to need something that, you know, you as a company want to order, then I might look elsewhere.

But you know, there are some company who do a good way to reach out, either by email or if they send us a physical branded product like the things that we do, then you actually turn your customer into fans. And in some rare instances, you can actually turn your customer into media advocates of your brand. You know, think about examples.

Like a lot of people talk about how to use a digital camera, right? They don't get paid, but they go, go on YouTube, you know, spend 30 minutes or longer just to teach you how to use a camera.

Think about how you as a company can create program so then you can turn your paying customer into Africa's larger brand. You know, this will be, you know, I would, I use the words cheaper to do than to spend million dollars ads, you know, to acquire customers.

Angela Frank: 00:03:04

Yeah, absolutely. I think this is something that's so important for many businesses.

But I know for me as a service based business, when somebody's interacting with my brand, there's no like physical thing that they can hold as a reminder of the time that they spent working with me. And so that's why I'm very excited to learn what you have to share today.

So with that, what types of businesses do you think should implement a customer retention program?

Swire Ho: 00:03:32

Think every single business that has customer, that's every. Because you know, it is difficult to acquire customer nowadays. It's competitive, right.

No matter what industry that you in, you know, how good you think you are, you gotta have competitor or a customer won't buy from you. If you don't give them a good experience, first of all, they will never come back. Or if you have horrible customer service. Right.

I'll never work with this company again.

So wouldn't it be better if a customer just purchased from you and then you have way that you strategically plan for them so they could spread the word of mouth, they could help you provide more user generated content and they also share the experience online on social media.

You know, as a, as a company, as a, you know, owner for the business, how much more would you value that and you know, willing to spend a little bit more time to develop your retention program?

Angela Frank: 00:04:29

Yeah, absolutely. So you shared that you should be strategic about planning for this.

So can you walk us through how to set up a customer retention program, what we should consider and how we should go about implementing this in our businesses?

Swire Ho: 00:04:43

Yeah, that's a great question. Because we are all unique. We have different product and services.

Obviously, you know, so to answer the question, you have to say who my, who are my ideal client? So if my ideal client just purchased from me, how would I like them to spread the word?

And so meaning the call to action, do you want them to tell their friends, do you want them to share on social media or do you want them just to engage? Right. You by might have an upgrade, right. So they just buy for the basic package.

You can actually upsell them 10 times more if they upgrade to the professional package, for example in service based business. So once you Identify the goal. Then you have to figure out something, because right now it's all about personalization.

Angela, in this space, you know, that we blast out to 10,000 people. Poly is not very specific.

But if we know who our ideal clients are, we've been specific about their interests, what their pain points are, and we speak to them so they will be more engaged. And then think about brand that we really like, we become a community.

So this will be like the ultimate goal for having a good customer retention program.

Angela Frank: 00:05:58

Awesome. So you're talking about the goal of any good customer retention program should be to create this community. How do you go about.

Since you are somebody who consults businesses on creating these customer retention programs, how would you go about making sure that your customer retention program tees up to this ultimate goal of creating that sense of community with your business?

Swire Ho: 00:06:21

Yeah. For the things that we do in promotional product, you know, the number one thing that we would do is to create a reward program.

So think about in physical space, when you go to Costco, for example, you know, they try to upsell you your membership. You get a tow bag, you get something that is nice when you go to the mall, like, you will see a Corvette. Right.

So, and then you have to listen to a timeshare opportunity to win that, you know, something that you could reward the client to for the call to action.

So that they might get a branded T shirt or they get a branded gift just to nudge them to do more or consider, you know, sticking with your company more. And then you can also provide a. A loyalty program.

So when you hit a certain milestone, you know, then, you know, the company can reach out to send them a specific gift.

You know, and, you know, since, you know, nowadays we've, after we've been through Covid, a custom gift box with personalized message are really ahead because we might not be physical in one space, but people do want it to support the brands that they love. You know, they want to be proud and where, you know, the brands that they support.

So these are some of the programs that we have done for our clients.

Angela Frank: 00:07:39

Amazing. So I want to hone in a little bit more on this concept of gifting.

After somebody becomes a customer, how much do you recommend somebody spends on something like that?

I'm sure it depends on the business, but generally speaking, when you're welcoming someone or providing a gift after the fact, how do you recommend that somebody implements that in their business?

Swire Ho: 00:08:01

That's like the number one questions that I get every day. Like, what should I buy? Yeah, to Answer that question that will you have to answer. What do you stand for?

What is their value proposition of your company? You know, some company will say we're eco friendly. Some companies will say we're the most luxury right of all.

We're the best, you know, commitment to our customer service. So the gift that you pick has to in line with that.

So if I say I'm eco friendly, I can't send you Angela with gift that wrapped in seven layers of plastic. That just defeats the purpose at all. So the gift that I sent you has to relate to the message that I want to send across.

And you have to also answer this question. A lot of times people want to buy things that they like, but it is not what you like, it's what people wanted to receive.

Angela Frank: 00:08:53

Absolutely.

I know that I've been planning some customer gifts and I have to get away from that, buying what I want to buy for myself and think more from the customer perspective.

Building off of that, how often do you recommend that people provide these gifts after somebody becomes a customer and when do you recommend that they provide them?

Swire Ho: 00:09:14

Yeah, I think that's why we have the plan to begin with. Because if you have developed a plan, so you just stick to the plan.

So for example, it could be when you're prospecting, you know, this is what you can do for business development.

So while you're working on the job, you know, if you're B2B, if you have longer cycles servicing the client, it could be within your certain milestone and then after, you know, they finish with your product. So if you're in sales, it would be nice for you to check in. Now, how often do we get a thank you phone call from a company that we work with?

Almost never.

So if you not only do that, if you send a gift and if you craft your call to action the way that you want it, people will actually be surprised and then follow your call to action to give you the review that you're looking for, maybe pass on a few referrals for you. Or even we are a mini journalist reporter right now with a cell phone.

If we post on our social media, how many of our friends and colleagues will see the message that we just work with a company that we like and then they spread the message on for you. A few years ago I listened to a seminar, it says that how to double yourself without growing a single customer. I thought about that in the beginning.

I was like, is it a scam? How do you do that? If you are a company who are servicing a larger Audience or a larger company.

Your product and services might not just be used for one department. You might be able to service multiple departments.

The way to do that is once you deliver good service and yet to check in with the client, make sure that they're happy. Sometimes they will give you concerns or things that you can improve on. And don't be like big company and deny that happening.

If it is within your capability, fix it after they are happy. Just ask this question. Do you happen to know a colleague or friends that could use our product or services?

Would you mind making an introduction for me? And with that I was actually able to do that with one of my large clients.

Not only I'm selling now to the marketing department, I'm talking to the sales department, the event department, dhr. So basically everyone that could use my service just by asking for it.

Angela Frank: 00:11:39

Yeah. So it sounds like there are many, many different opportunities to implement a customer retention program. And it can take many forms.

It can be something like a loyalty program. It can be a thank you phone call, or it could be a gift.

And so there's many ways to follow up with people in various price points, from free to a paid option.

It also sounds like what you're saying is the intentionality behind the program is what's most important, not necessarily the dollar amount that you've spent. And at the end of the day, the goal of a retention program should be to one, encourage your customers to remain customers.

Two, it can also increase the order value or the average lifetime value of your customers. And three, it can drive these referrals.

So you're increasing the ROI on any marketing dollars that brought them in the door in the first place by getting them to refer you more clients or customers to your business. Is that right?

Swire Ho: 00:12:40

Yeah, it sounded perfectly Angela.

Angela Frank: 00:12:42

Amazing. So what's next for you, Swire?

Swire Ho: 00:12:45

I would like to have more conversation with listener who might be interested in finding out more. Because you spend a lot of work acquiring the client.

Once they through the door, you should spend as much time and as much effort that you are available to keep them engaged and happy. Every successful company has got to have happy customer.

If you let me know that company, all the customers are happy, then I know that you're in a good place. Company fails because they're not able to know what the customer wants. The trend will change always.

But it's our job as an entrepreneur, as a business owner to find out what do our customer really wants. And by talking to them, by engaging with them, by having a program to retention.

So then you could keep a dialogue with them, you communicate with them, or they will share you the feedback. Something that a lot of us would pay a lot of time or money to hire a consulting firm just to survey a customer.

Why don't just you call a few of your good customer, you have options out there. Why do you choose to work with us today?

You know, then take notes and don't be denial and if they mention something that you can fix, do that right away.

Angela Frank: 00:14:06

Yeah, absolutely.

And this is everything that you do in a day to day as you help people identify areas in their business where they can implement these customer retention programs and you help them implement that. And you're also known as the promo guy, right?

Swire Ho: 00:14:22

Yeah. So I think it's always fun to give gifts, especially if you give them minimal gifts that you know that they're going to wear.

You know, think about when you go to a concert, Angela. So you pay a lot of money, right? You buy the T shirt, but then I guarantee that you wear that next day.

You know, then people ask you, you know, who's that decision? If they don't know already, then you become the mini advocates and tell them all about it.

That's why when we go to conference, you know, we always, you know, bring back, you know, the goodies that we have. And then when our colleagues ask us, you know, about our experience, then the most memorable experience will be told to the colleague.

So you as a marketer or as an entrepreneur are able to create that narrative. So if they remember your tagline and if your promotional product and gifted product are clever, then actually get spread the awareness.

The way that we use ROI is not is called return on impression. So how many impression can your branded product get? So to determine, you know, what should you buy, you know, for your company?

Angela Frank: 00:15:30

Absolutely.

I love that one of my clients would go to trade shows and actually provide a little snippet of their service as their free offering or their promotional offering, they would provide headshots.

So because they were a photo studio, it was super easy for them to send a couple photographers take headshots and then the people there had headshots to take back and they could put them at work on their work profile and show, you know, how nice and professional their headshot is. And then that was a great way to dovetail into new business. Not only did they do headshots, but they did all sorts of different photography services.

And so it gave them a nice in and a memorable way to connect with prospects at trade shows. So I love what you're saying about making sure that things are memorable and not just going for maybe the easy route like a cheap pen or something.

So I love that if somebody wants to get in touch with you so they can get your help building out a customer retention or a promotional program, where can they do that?

Swire Ho: 00:16:33

Thank you. I love to network. So if you find me on LinkedIn, just search for the promo guy. It's all one word.

If you wanted to look for a company, it's garudapromo.com and I also sent you a link.

Angela with a deep dive session is complimentary if your listener would like to find out more about individually how we could develop program for better customer retention.

Angela Frank: 00:16:57

Amazing. All of those links that you just mentioned will be in the show notes of this podcast episode.

So if you're listening and you want to get in touch with Swire, you can just go right there and everything is there for you. Swire, thank you so much for joining us today.

Swire Ho: 00:17:11

Thank you so much, Angela.

Angela Frank: 00:17:12

Awesome. And thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Growth Pod. I look forward to seeing you in the next one.