Sponsored Content.
A recent study showed that 61% of companies cite customer retention as their biggest challenge.[1] So, how do you ensure you’re doing everything you can to improve customer loyalty and create a customer journey that keeps people coming back for more? The answer lies in automation.
Let’s face it: your distributors are busy, so, understandably, some retention-increasing behaviors are falling between the cracks. And the more significant their business, it gets to provide a personalized experience for each customer. But, like you, your distributors have a lot going on, so anything you can do to automate their processes will be hugely beneficial.
Tools like PULSE provide the automation your organization needs to provide adequate support to distributors, support their efforts, and pave the way to increased success. Below, we’ve outlined the top three benefits that automation can have for your direct sales business:
Benefit #1: Improve Efficiency
It’s a huge challenge to keep track of customers and follow up at just the right moment. The result for most people is harrowing matrixes of reminders, and calendar appointments, that provide little besides clutter.
Your distributors don’t need more reminders about additional work. Instead, they need more free time to connect with new customers, train their teams, and enjoy their lives.
The first step is recognizing patterns in those customer journeys and experiences we previously covered. The second is to automate reminders based on those patterns.
For example: say you notice customers reduce their order quantity before they cancel an auto-ship. That’s a red flag when you see another otherwise-seemingly- satisfied customer do it. A simple message checking in could save the account, meaning the trick has a system that sends these flags based on your patterns and unique red flags.
PULSE can do all of that. Our unique sales-enablement tools help automate the management of customer relationships and interactions based on prior activities and behavior. PULSE guides users through behavior-driven prompts, reminders, and suggested actions for specific customers and provides various activity-based reports. For example, it suggests tasks that will deliver the timeliest customer interactions, such as following up now, setting reminders for later, or quickly connecting with inactive customers on new products or samples to get them re-engaged.
Benefit #2: Encourage Dormant Buyers to Make a Purchase
You’ve got the tools to realize a regular customer has stopped making orders. Now what? With customer reporting, distributors can reach out to customers to remind them they are valued and enlist tactics to bring them back. And with automation, that can all happen with little to no effort from the distributor.
Imagine this scenario: A distributor is notified that a formerly regular customer has canceled their auto-ship order. They’ve sent a personalized message with a customized order suggestion within just a few taps. The customer feels seen, the distributor builds rapport and connection, and (hopefully) a new order is placed. And it all happened within a matter of seconds.
Benefit #3: Make Everyone a Wordsmith
If your distributors aren’t confident in their writing skills, they might not be on board with message-based follow-up and outreach. That’s why automated, pre-written messages are the best solution. Not only will they be concise and well-written, but they’ll also help you avoid hairy compliance issues.
Messages can also include supporting assets, like an interactive video that provides additional information about a product’s ingredients and benefits or a PDF of facts about a recently ordered product.
Tip: Our clients have found pre-written messages that outline the numerous ways a product can be used may trigger additional purchases or reactivated auto-ship orders simply because they provide a nudge for customers to use up their products and need more.
Automation = Retention
The benefits listed above are supporting evidence for the fact that automation leads to better retention. Giving your distributors automated tools enables them to create personalized follow-up communication, helping them to speed up the sales process, encourage customer longevity, and, most importantly, freeing them up to spend their time more effectively. Tools like PULSE that use artificial intelligence and automation are designed to make it easy for anyone to sell, giving pros and newbies a competitive advantage. To learn more about PULSE and what you can do to enhance the customer journey to create brand loyalty, download our complimentary eBook.
[1] 70 Powerful Customer Retention Statistics You Need to Know in 2021
SHARE THIS:
Leave a Reply