Acquiring a customer takes a lot of work but many entrepreneurs just focus on acquiring the customers but they overlook retaining these customers as they consider customer service a great cost – today’s guest is Dr. Joyce Knudsen and she will be talking about the impressions that customer service makes and how they can help to build our business. Customer Acquisition VS Customer Retention Although it costs as much seven times more, many entrepreneurs focus on new customer acquisition than customer retention but while it’s there’s nothing wrong with working hard to grow your customer base, it’s important to know and remember the value of the customers you already have and their brand loyalty.  If you have customers who haven’t been active, the cost to reach out to such a customer is zero but this would result in increased sale; Dr. Joyce suggests that a significant portion of the revenue of a stable business comes from returning customers and even mores steady customers help businesses through tough economic times. Retaining customers through Reward Programs A lot of companies offer their customers some kind of rewards for shopping – and customers love this – they love getting something in the mail.  Outside of formalized reward programs which offer points or special benefits – find out what your customers like and send it to them – it could be even a box of candy. How do we build or improve our customer service department? You want to sell your customers something that they didn’t think they wanted – find out what it is they like and give it to them.  Also, it’s great to feature your fans in your content – there is a computerized tool called Snippet which is really easy to use but it is a good way of including your fans – fans want to be called by their names, they want to feel involved.  You want to ensure that you engage your customers and provide a service besides just the initial purchase, so even if your customer service department is just one person – take the time out of your day or your week to reach out to your customers, go the extra mile and follow up.