In his blog earlier this week, Seth Godin asked "who is your customer?"

He then proffered two rules that clearly summarize our philosophy that customer retention is the art of keeping good customers™:

Rule one: You can build a business on the foundation of great customer service.

Rule two: The only way to do great customer service is to treat different customers differently.

There is a great deal of truth in the saying "if you don't take care of your customers, someone else will."

In my article Keeping Good Customers by Earning Customer Loyalty I outline practices for building, earning, rewarding and keeping customer loyalty.

A frequent theme in my Monday Morning Marketing Memo is that organizations need to treat customers as people and as individuals.

Think of and treat the individuals who buy your products and services, as CUSTOMERS and PEOPLE with real and individual needs, wants, desires, likes and dislikes.  Not as account numbers, participants, account holders, clients, passengers, guests, or patients.

Do this and you'll have more customers.

Do this and you'll have happier customers.

Do this and you'll have many more repeat customers.

The mistake many organizations make is to treat all customers as typical or average customers.

The key to keeping good customers is to treat your most valuable customers not as average customers, but as your most valued customers. This requires that they be treated as individuals with individual needs, wants, desires, likes and dislikes.

Or, as Seth Godin says, treat different customers differently. And that's why I say keeping good customers is an art.