Every eight seconds during an average American business day someone starts another business. To survive, each of those businesses needs some kind of a competitive edge. That edge can take many forms, but the most sustainable long-term advantage comes from developing, maintaining, and promoting a unique selling proposition or USP. Written for the small-business marketer, this book explains major trends and how to determine their impact on your trading area, where to find the data you need to make good marketing decisionsoften at little or no cost, and how you can use the internet to build your business. It offers dozens of suggestions for finding new customers and winning more of your existing customers future business. Tips for marketing in an information age Latest consumer trend information How to find and keep customers Pros and cons of internet marketing How to evaluate your trading area What you can learn from you customers Marketing success within your reach I found Mr. Francese s book full of useful marketing data that can help me make smart business decisions. -- Charlie Johnson, President, CJSquash.com Peter Francese's fact-based, no-jargon approach to marketing is not just refreshing, it's a revolutionary tool for the small-business owner. -- Don E. Schultz, Professor Emeritus-In-Service, Integrated Marketing Department, Northwestern University; President, Agora, Inc. Peter always gives a business person the shortest path to great insights. -- John Tabor, Publisher, Portsmouth Herald Simply seeing the name Peter Francese would cause many of us to pick up the book and read. -- Martin K. Holdrich, Chairman, Woods & Poole Economics, Inc. Peter Francese is the founder of American Demographics magazine and author of the books, Capturing Customers and Marketing Know-How. His previous column, "People Patterns" appeared most recently in the six Regional editions of The Wall Street Journal. Nationally recognized for his contributions to these publications and his currently syndicated column, "The Marketing Advisor," he speaks and writes frequently on consumer trends and customer behavior. Using examples from a wide variety of business categories, he writes clearly and often with a touch of wit, always reminding readers that the tools they need to improve their marketing are well within their reach. Mr. Francese is a graduate of Cornell University. The author can be reached at peter@francese.com. PRESERVING CUSTOMER LOYALTY Customer loyalty is the most precious, but intangible, company asset. That s because loyalty is a concept that exists only in the customer s mind. Unlike buildings or equipment, loyalty is hard to quantify and impossible to buy or make quickly. But it can be more important to business success than anything on the balance sheet. Customers return to a business many times because of a set of factors any one of which can go off track without any obvious sign that something is wrong. Nobody rings a bell when the perceived quality of a product or service starts to decline or when the demand for what you provide starts dropping because of changing wants or needs. A few customers may say something, but most often they just stop coming. And it probably does not have anything to do with external factors like the slowing economy, which is the usual suspect. That s why regular dialogue with customers is such an important component in building and maintaining customer loyalty. There are many ways to converse with customers, but a systematic program of asking for customer feedback has many benefits. Periodically asking customers a few questions can provide a benchmark as well as a moving picture of how customers rate your product or service. But it can also show how their needs or expectations might be changing. Separate the Best from the Worst Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of regularly asking for customers opinions, however, is that it can alert you to a new kind of customer segmentation. You can find out which segment is most happy with what you provide, which ones are reasonably satisfied, and which ones are almost never satisfied no matter what you do. Finding out which customers to say goodbye to can do wonders for your bottom line, not to mention the enamel on your teeth. Let there be no doubt. Your most profitable customers will be those who are most satisfied with what you provide and who come back over and over again. By contrast, the ones who are almost never satisfied are rarely profitable either. Once you determine which segment is the happiest with what you provide, the next task is to determine what elements contribute to their high level of satisfaction and repeat purchase behavior. Perhaps it is the friendly and knowledgeable staff, or the consistently high quality, or the competitive prices, or something else. The important thing is to find out what it is so you can be sure to stay on top of that aspect of your business. Asking Question