Customer Retention - the new buzzwords

Companies in South Africa moved towards taking CRM seriously in the mid 1990's. A variety of CRM software packages were released into the market and most corporate companies even went as far as creating corporate relations departments with a sole purpose of ensuring that their corporate clients had a representative visiting their offices to assist employees with any queries that they might have had.

Competition has led to a number of companies competing with one another to secure their share in the market. The problem in most instances is that there is a limited pool of customers in some markets and with more competition developing each day both nationally and internationally, companies are now realizing that they need to look after their existing client base and retain them in order to survive in the future.

This has led to a new phrase called "Customer Retention". Keeping your existing customers as well as growing your customer base at the same time.

I will be speaking at the "Customer Retention & Acquisition Strategies 2008 Master Class" happening at the Southern Sun Garden Court hotel at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on the 19th and 20th of March 2008. The Institute for Research South Africa hosts this event.

Follow this link for more information as well as online bookings. Click Here to go there now.

I have mentioned this topic previously in a number of articles. So… What is your company doing to ensure that you retain your customers, and where will your company be in five years time if you do not have an effective customer retention strategy in place?