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Having a great selection, low prices and fantastic customer service no longer guarantees customer loyalty or even new customers.

It's not what you say it's what you do that makes you noticeable. To stand out in a positive and attracting way you need to find out what motivates your customers to buy and use that to work out what you can do for them to make it easy to stay.

• Scenario 1

You've discovered that your best customers have a need to be the first to own a hot new product.

A strategy for early adopters

Set-up invitation only Information Nights and pre-sell a product. Use the phone or email to keep them up to date with delivery.

Make it easy for your A-grade customers to introduce like behaving customers by giving them one additional invitation to select Information Nights.

Maintain scarcity by limiting the number of Information Nights you invite a particular customer to.

• Scenario 2

You have customers that like to be envied and enjoy being noticed in public.

A strategy for the highly profiled

Create a VIP card program for these customers and when they purchase from you attach a special ribbon or sticker to their purchase packaging so that they are clearly identified as being a different type of shopper.

Provide value added services such as engraving, labelling or embroidery for personalising their items

Give them a personalised shopping list at special times of the year (for example: end of the year, festivals, public holidays) that has items on it that match their previous spending patterns.

• Scenario 3

Your customers buy from you because you're in a convenient location.

A strategy for convenience shoppers

Set-up offers on next purchases to encourage your customers to buy from you more often.

Use point-of-sale materials that compliment their usual purchases and encourage impulse buys that have add-ons (accessories or attachments).

Offer home delivery and produce a catalogue so that customers can re-order easily or give them to friends.

How to Develop Your Own Strategy

If you find it difficult to work out what motivates your customers to buy, then try this approach.

Work out which of your customers buy from you regularly, then look for the best payers who are enjoyable to assist - Start with 3.

Then talk to them - ask them the question

Why do you buy from me?

Once you've discovered what their buying motivation is, look at what other successful business are doing to cater to the same motivations. Who you look at for inspiration doesn't even need to be in the same industry as you.

Once you've got some ideas, select the ones you like and implement.

The interesting thing about customer loyalty is that it doesn't happen overnight, it takes time and persistence. However once you've got the right strategy, extending the life of your customer relationships becomes easy.

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