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How Do I Keep Customers In Tough Times?

Written by: Adam Sonnhalter

Article Overview: As David Sandler used to say, be a "fuzzy" source for your customers. For those of you not familiar with this terminology, it includes "warm fuzzies" and "cold pricklies." Warm fuzzies are those things that make other people feel good. Cold pricklies, on the other hand, are those things that don't feel so good.

How Do I Keep Customers In Tough Times?

As David Sandler used to say, be a "fuzzy" source for your customers. For those of you not familiar with this terminology, it includes "warm fuzzies" and "cold pricklies." Warm fuzzies are those things that make other people feel good. It could be something as simple as a genuine compliment. It could be you sending a personal handwritten note to someone to let them know how much you appreciate them. Or it could simply be an article you find that you think might be of interest to someone. A warm fuzzy is basically anything that will provide that warm & fuzzy feeling

Cold pricklies, on the other hand, are those things that don't feel so good. It could be a backhanded compliment that sounds nice at first, but it's really a set up for a zinger to follow. Think Caddyshack and Rodney Dangerfield's character talking to Ted Knight's character in the pro shop: "Hey you buy a hat like this and I bet you get a free bowl of soup! (seeing Ted Knight's character trying on the hat) Oh it looks good on you, though (while making an awkward face)." [If you haven't seen the clip before, head over to YouTube and search for "Caddyshack looks good on you" to view the 30-second video.]

While you may not be that overtly "prickly" to your customers, you may do other things that prickle them. It could be that instead of calling them on the phone, you'll email them or text them, when you know they prefer to talk on the phone. Maybe you give them a hard time when they want to return an item because they are not truly satisfied with it. Maybe you forget to return a phone call or two.

A good exercise for you and your team is to put together a list of all the ways you can be "warm fuzzies" to your clients and then make sure each of your people is giving out at least one warm fuzzy a day to existing and potential clients (by nature we tend to provide more warm fuzzies to prospects than we do to paying customers).

A key for retaining customers, whether it be in good times or bad, is to be a "warm fuzzy" source for them. As David Sandler used to say, "People don't get rid of their fuzzy sources."

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Article Tags: cold pricklies, david sandler, retain customers, warm fuzzies



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