As Capitol Hill continues to grow and build our storefront retail and service industry, newcomers and long time stores alike must keep in mind the keys to turning a one time customer into a second, third and forever return customer.

My rule as Partner at Realignment Studio is to meet the first time customer where they are.  My training and experience as a yoga teacher of 13 years has taught me to work from a structure that is also inherently flexible (pun intended) and kind.  Once a customer has been in our space for the length of a class (lucky in our industry we get at least 30 mins to shape the first impression) they begin to find the mood and flow, but for those first ten minutes I remember to let them lead the way…not to worry if they’ve arrived two minutes late or walked around studio space with their shoes on.  No biggie.  We’ve made a clean, clear space to be allowing and easeful and hopefully in those small pieces customers will want to return time and time again.  And sales wise we offer the introductory month at a discount because we understand that in the wellness industry customers aren’t often committed after one class, so we offer an easy way to come back.

Entrepreneur magazine asked six entrepreneurs from various industries the question…how do you create repeat purchases?

The bullet point take aways were

• Treat ‘Em Nice
• Anticipate Their Needs
• Know Their History
• Give Gifts!
• More Is More
• Help Them Never Forget

Check out the full article HERE.