Level 8 · Part 4
Keeping customers
Repeat buyers come from reliability, listening and fair handling of problems.
It is usually cheaper and easier to keep a customer than to find a new one. Customers return when they trust you to do what you said, every time.
- Be reliable: the same quality, the same size, on time.
- Ask for feedback regularly, and show that you used it.
- Handle complaints calmly and fairly: listen, check the batch record, fix the problem, and thank them.
- Thank regular customers and tell them first about new products or changes.
- Keep simple records of who your regular customers are and what they like.
Respect customers' personal information
If you keep phone numbers or messages, use them only for what the customer agreed to, keep them safe, and do not share them. Data protection rules in your country may apply.
When something goes wrong
A safe, honest response to a problem builds more trust than pretending it did not happen. If a product may be unsafe, stop selling it, tell the customers who bought it, and follow the rules of the food authority.
Exercise 8.4 · My plan to keep customers
- Write three promises you make to every customer.
- Write how you will collect feedback and how often.
- Write what you will do if a customer complains, step by step.
- Write how you will keep customer information safe and use it fairly.
Background reading for this part:
- Agricultural and Food Marketing Management — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), I. M. Crawford, 1997
- Market Research for Agroprocessors (Marketing Extension Guide 3) — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Andrew W. Shepherd, 2003