Are you managing your top customers effectively?
What would you do if you found out that only 25-40% of your top customers had an upcoming visit planned? Well, looking over our clients, we found that this is the situation in most cases, with one client as low as 15%!
Your top customers are your most loyal and valued audience members and they should be made to feel special. They drive a disproportionate share of your business compared to other customers and so knowing as much as you can about them is vital in retaining their business.
In most companies, account managers will take care of each high-revenue account, but it feels like most organizations in live entertainment still have some way to go. Whether or not your top customers have an upcoming visit already planned, you should be making plans for how to bring them back, keep the dialogue relevant for them, and know exactly which part of your program or other offerings will be relevant to each of them.
Want to test if you are on top of things? Ask yourself these four questions:
- Who are your top customers?
- How much did they spend last year?
- What type of events do they like most?
- When’s their next booking?
Knowing the answers to a few simple questions becomes gold dust when talking to your top customers. The first key thing to know is exactly who your top customers are and how much impact they have on your business. This can range massively from company to company, with some peoples’ top customers making up for 20-40% of their business (particularly in the B2B environment). Knowing how much they spend should tell you how much you should bend to accommodate their needs.
Sometimes, customers are worth rolling the red carpet out for. This might be as simple as making sure your door staff knows they’re coming. Knowing what type of events they like to attend is also vital information when dealing with your top customers. Knowing that a local company loves to send their staff to your comedy shows means that you can reach out to them when you have a new show in planning. In cases where the customer is a big part of your business, you may even consider tailoring your schedule to meet their needs.