According to a new Kingston University research, a friendly smile and warm greeting can boost business for small independent companies as it makes customers more loyal to them.
One of the most common phrases used is "a smile goes a long way." Now researchers have found that a smile can be good for business too, especially for small, independent companies. According to a team of researchers, a friendly smile and a warm hello make customers more loyal to such companies, which lead to a boost in business.
Researchers of the study looked into the purchasing behavior of 2,006 consumers and the business practices of 1,216 decision makers in small and medium sized companies. They found that a friendly smile and a warm hello account for 56 percent of the reasons why customers become loyal to small and medium sized companies. However, only 54 percent of these companies implement this business practice.
The study also revealed that three in five customers were willing to pay extra for a product from a small company than deal with bigger companies if the smaller company implemented the above mentioned business practice.
"SMEs are in a unique position to embrace these traditional values of personal customer contact and loyalty and should build on their natural competitive advantages to make a real difference to survival and growth," Professor Robert Blackburn of Kingston Business School said.
Researchers also found that more than one third of loyal small business customers said they returned to do business with such small companies because of the excellent customer service they receive from them. One in every five customers also said that they prefer doing business with companies that remember their usual order. Unfortunately, very few businesses keep an account of their customers' previous orders.
The study also found that very few small and medium size companies take active part in retaining or growing their customer base and only half of them deem it as business priority to achieve growth over the next 12 months.
