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Up the Loyalty Ladder - Turning Sometime Customers into Full-Time Advocates of Your Business

Author: Murray Raphel

Publisher: Harpercollins

Published: March 1995

From the Back Cover

Many business owners today are beginning to realise that while they often can't match big businesses' capabilities in the price and selection arenas, they can compete - and win - in one vital area: taking care of the customer.

Up the Loyalty Ladder provides a concrete strategy for creating a loyal customer base, showing how business owners can develop occasional shoppers into the biggest fans of your business.

In this invaluable guide for the small business owner or manager, retail consultants Murray and Neil Raphel discuss the five all-important levels of customers and reveal how to move them up the next rung of the Loyalty Ladder:

Prospects - From commuters listening to your ads on the radio to homes that receive your catalogue.  Prospects are the necessary starting point for any business.  But remember Raphel's Number One Rule for Businesses: "It's far, far easier to sell more to the Customer you already have than to sell to new Customers."

Shoppers - Once a person buys something from you and becomes a Shopper, you are in business.  But you have only a few minutes' opportunity to impress Shoppers enough so that they will come back and become Customers.

Customers - Whether they frequent a deli because of the good sandwiches or busy jeans at the Gap because of the great fit, Customers are a valuable asset.  But the trick is to get them to buy more when they come in, thus creating Clients.

Clients - Rewarding loyal Customers is vital for a small business.  With a large percentage of net profits coming from the yearly expenditures of a few people, small businesses can't afford not to treat them like kings and queens!

Advocates - Advocates are better for your business than any advertisement.  You have to make your Clients so happy with the service you give them that they will recommend your business to everyone they know.

By walking you through every step of the Loyalty Ladder, Murray and Neil Raphel have created the only strategy you'll need for building your business.  Follow their advice, and the customers will come.