Customer loyalty matters, because selling more to current customers is easier and cheaper than finding and selling to new ones. Loyal customers tend to buy more, more regularly. And they will frequently recommend your business to others.

A Clear Eye for Branding     . Successful marketing also requires being relevant and unique, which brings us to Tip 2. 

Here are 10 tips for you to consider if you are sincerely interested in having a business that is notable for its customer loyalty and referrals. I propose that these tried-and-true tactics with interpersonal strategies can deepen relationships with customers, establish greater levels of trust, and build stronger customer loyalty.

1. Understand the true purpose of marketing

Effective marketing is in large part about building trust and developing relationships.The purpose of marketing is to “create and maintain a strong feeling with customers so they are mentally predisposed to continually choose and recommend you,” according to Tom Asacker, author of

2. Identify and build your brand

We’re not talking about your logo, marketing “look,” or tagline, although you should have those tools in your marketing kit. Branding that builds genuine customer loyalty goes beyond what the eye can see. It’s branding at the emotional, sensory, and gut-feeling level.

Your brand is what your business is known for, how you engage with customers, and what people can depend on you to consistently deliver. It’s a compilation of your most-important strengths.

What should a customer who is referring someone to your business say about you? “They go out of their way to find resources and solutions for me.” “The staff is warm and caring; you can feel it the minute you walk through the door.”

Identify your brand, and leverage it to see customer loyalty and referrals increase. Don’t be shy about showcasing your uniqueness and strengths.

3. Tap into what customers want

To appeal to a customer’s needs or desires, you must first understand their motivations, values, and priorities. Each customer has unique needs and wants.

Being tuned in to what customers want and being sensitive to their evolving needs will help you become more resourceful and innovative over time. That is an excellent way to set yourself apart from other businesses and help you build memorable, lasting customer relationships.

4. Understand what customers actually are paying for

We like to believe customers are paying for our expertise. Yet most clients or customers cannot evaluate our expertise and so they simply assume we are experts by virtue of our brand credentials.

What customers can assess is whether they experience positive outcomes, if the relationship they have with you is meaningful, if they feel valued, and if they receive a high level of service. If you’re selling a service, you’re selling a relationship.

5. Outcomes matter

Practicing good interpersonal skills and maintaining solid customer relationships are important for developing customer loyalty. But what really matters to customers are results they can see, count on, and talk about.

Customers might come to you a few times because you have the right product or service for their needs, but they won’t keep coming to you based on your business personality alone. Customers must trust you to help them; they must see results and learn something from you to make it worth their while to continue as your customer.

Remember, customers refer friends and family members with comments such as “I’ve never seen such great service before”—not “Customer service staff are great conversationalists.”

6. Integrity leads to trust, which leads to a relationship

Integrity involves fundamental behaviors such as keeping your word, being honest, providing a consistent level of service, and being reliable. Businesses that demonstrate a high degree of integrity are seen as trustworthy.

Building trust requires the businesses to continually put the customer’s interests ahead of their own and display a genuine “other” orientation. You demonstrate that by being interested rather than interesting, and by not treating every interaction as an opportunity to share your message.

All that adds up to doing business with integrity. Without integrity, there is no trust, and without trust, there is no enduring relationship.

7. What have you done for me lately?

One of the most common mistakes businesses make is focusing primarily on the early part of the sale. They wrongly assume that once a customer is happy, that customer will stay happy and continue to use the services.

Each customer’s experience is the sum of every small experience that customer has while in your place of business. Ask yourself, If I were this customer right now, what would I really want in terms of product, care, and service?

Remember, your customer is always thinking, What’s in it for me? What you do (or fail to do) at every point during a customer’s course of care makes an impression.

8. Never take loyalty for granted

A successful external marketing campaign will encourage people to try you out, but only good outcomes and an authentic relationship with you will keep them coming back.

Customers’ willingness to return to your business depends only partly on their need for your product or services. They can easily choose another business or provider, or even a different product, if they are not happy with what they experience.

Never take loyalty for granted. Never underestimate the power and value of the one-to-one relationship customers have with you and your staff.

Customers return to where they feel connected, where they have a sense of belonging, where there is mutual esteem, where they are treated with respect, and where their care results in positive outcomes.

9. Word-of-mouth marketing isn’t new

Third-party endorsement or customer referral has long been the foundation of marketing.

What is new is that the bar for what customers expect in the way of service is higher today. Being good isn’t good enough to get customers talking about you. Outstanding is the new good.

Polls repeatedly show the quality of customer service is on the decline across industries. When you consistently exceed expectations, customers become “raving fans.” Those are the customers who refer their friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers.

10. Know and appreciate your ambassadors

In his bestselling book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell says people who refer fall into one of two categories: connectors or market mavens.

Connectors are social. They have a gift for knowing people and naturally make connections among their network.

Market mavens are people who have “the goods.” They have a desire to be of service and influence others. They are databanks of information, they know how to get the best deals and the best service, and they share information with enthusiasm.

According to Gladwell, “Word-of-mouth begins when someone along the chain tells a connector or a maven.” Learn to recognize those customers, cultivate them, and express your appreciation accordingly.

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dford

County Executive Rob Astorino was peppered with questions about his proposed $1.78 billion 2011 budget at Monday night’s Bedford Armonk Rotary meeting, even as he was exiting the room to attend another community meeting in Somers.

Though the atmosphere was not as charged as previously held public hearings on the budget, attendees challenged Astorino on several proposed cuts—including reductions in child care subsidies and the elimination of $1.3 million in funds to the Cornell Cooperative Extension—and demanded explanations on costs associated with employee contracts.

Astorino’s proposed operating budget calls for a decrease in spending of $33 million from the $1.819 billion budget of 2010. If no cuts were made, this year’s budget would have increased by a projected $116 million. When crafting the budget, he and his staff focused on providing essential services, he said.

Approximately 85 people attended the meeting, hosted by the recently formed Bedford Armonk Rotary Club and held at St. Matthew’s Church in Bedford.

Astorino presented his plan in broad strokes and outlined major cost increases expected in employee health care costs and pensions—they’ll go from $55 million to $163 million in four years, he said.

“We’re only one of four counties in the state where the employees pay nothing toward their health insurance. You—all of you in this room—pay 100 percent of county health care costs,” said Astorino.

He was asked about the current terms of the Civil Service Employees Association contract. “The CSEA contract is in year five of six,” he said. “They got a four percent increase this year, plus step and longevity increases, so it’s like a six percent increase in some cases,” he said.

He added that, if the contract expired and new terms had not been negotiated, the four percent increase remained. According to state law, health care costs can be negotiated but pensions are constitutionally guaranteed.

His budget proposal includes laying off 226 workers from county positions to save money. Buyouts would be given to 465 additional workers and 14 positions that are currently vacant would be eliminated from the budget—combined, the reductions represent about a 12 percent workforce reduction.

In addition to cutting positions, Astorino’s budget eliminates millions of dollars in social services and non-profits (explained further here), including cuts to the Cornell Cooperative Extension office in Valhalla, through which community education on nutrition, agriculture, sustainability, emergency preparedness and gardening takes place in partnership with Cornell University.

The county contribution equals about one-fourth of the total funding to run the program—if made, state and federal funds make up the rest.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Don’t look to the new home market for glad economic tidings: Home builders had another dismal sales month in October, falling to just one-fifth of the sales rate during the boom five years ago.

New home sales dropped to an annual pace of just 283,000, according to the Commerce Department. That was down 8.1% from a slow September and 28.5% from 12 months ago when the annualized sales rate was at 430,000.

“The new home market delivered another turkey of a performance last month,” said Mike Larson, a housing market analyst with Weiss Research. “Sales fell sharply across most of the country.”

Sales are off nearly 80% from the housing boom peak pace of 1.4 million, set in July 2005. Sales have remained near historic lows this year despite very attractive mortgage interest rates that slash the monthly costs of homeownership.

The Commerce Department also revised August sales figures downward to 275,000, which represents the record low point for new homes sales since it started tracking figures in 1963.

There’s a major factor depressing home sales of all kinds, according to David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders.

“We’re fallen significantly in the number of people forming their own households,” he said. “They’re worried about the economy and they’re worried about their jobs.”

Usually, household formation rises 1% a year or more as people get married, come to the states from overseas, and start careers.

But the poor economy has meant that many grads can’t find jobs, and so they move in with parents instead or double up with peers. Fewer immigrants arrive and couples delay marriage. All of those things diminish home sales.

When people do look for homes, they find a glut of existing homes competing with new homes for sale, according to Larson.

“So much bargain-priced, ‘used’ home inventory is available that the builders just can’t compete,” he said. “Over time, we’ll work through that mountain of existing home supply. But the key words are ‘over time.’ New home builders won’t have much to be thankful about any time soon.

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For the Cotter’s of Bedford, the Turkey Trot is a family affair—though they travel to New Jersey each year for Thanksgiving, they make sure to return in time for the 5K run back home, an event that has expanded from 225 runners in 2005 to the 400 participants expected for this year’s race.

The fitness-oriented family—Amy, her husband, and their three children, ages 13, 15 and 16—have participated since the event’s inception, and each year have different goals. “Sometimes the kids want to beat their Dad, or best their own personal time—or just finish the race,” she said. “It’s just a great thing to do—run on a crisp day and see your friends and neighbors.”

Building a community event, where people could reconnect in a fun and healthy way, was exactly what the organizers had in mind when they first came up with the idea, said Jennifer Schwartz, one of the event’s founders and annual organizers.

“We wanted to begin a tradition that was about family, health and the town—one last thing to do together before everyone goes into hibernation for the winter,” she said.

The 3.1 mile course is challenging: after starting at Bedford Village Elementary School, runners immediately head to to Seminary Road, then toward Indian Hill Road for a 200-foot climb; those who make it are rewarded with a coast downhill,  and to a flat finish through the village, ending at Bedford Village Memorial Park.

Because the goal was to host a family-friendly event, a children’s “fun run” has been a part of the Turkey Trot from the beginning, said Wendy Camerik, publicity coordinator.”One of the best parts has been seeing kids who started in the fun run move on to the full race,” she said. “From under 12 to over 70, we’ve got eight major age categories.”

Awards donated by Small Joys will be given to the top overall male and female finishers, and the top three male and female runners in each age grouping. Certified race results were made possible three years ago when they signed on a company to record each runner’s time via individual tags, said Schwartz. “That’s when we knew the race hat hit its stride as a high-caliber event, drawing runners from all over Northern Westchester,” she said.

And though they have the planning “down to a science” now, the first year was a bit hairer, according to Schwartz. After the town board unanimously approved their idea, they had only six weeks to throw it together.

“We’ve been so lucky to have such generous sponsors from the beginning—and we hope it brings potential shoppers to the area. All of the proceeds go directly toward running the race,” she said.

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The Price 20-Somethings Pay to Live in the City

Home loan demand fell 14 percent last week, as higher interest rates sent refinancing down 17 percent. This was the biggest drop of the year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association weekly survey. 

Applications for mortgages to purchase homes fell 5 percent last week compared to the previous week on an adjusted basis. On an unadjusted basis, purchase applications decreased 8.2 percent compared with the previous week and were 11.3 percent lower than they were the same week a year ago. 

Purchase applications had been on the rise for the previous three weeks, but “rates increased sharply last week due to stronger economic data and lingering uncertainty regarding the structure and impact of the Fed’s QE2 program. Mortgage applications … dropped in response,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics.  

Here are the average rates: 

▪ 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.46 percent from 4.28 percent. 

▪ 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.87 percent from 3.64 percent. 

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association (11/17/2010)

NAR Article

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A five member Town Board, made up of the Supervisor and four Town Board members elected at large, functions as the legislative body of the Town and is responsible for the “health, safety and welfare” of its residents. Terms for Town Board members are four years; the Supervisor’s term is two years.
 

The Supervisor functions as the Chief Fiscal Officer and Chief Executive Officer. A Deputy Supervisor is appointed to assist with the duties of the Supervisor during their absence.

The Town Board is a legislative body, responsible for setting policy, adopting the annual budget, and enacting laws and resolutions for the betterment of the Town’s residents.

Regular Town Board meetings are conducted the first and third Tuesdays each month at 8 pm in the Town House followed by a Public Open Forum. Work sessions are held as announced. All meetings are open to the public and only certain legally sensitive issues may be discussed in executive session.

Members of the Town Board may be reached by contacting the Supervisor’s Office or sending mail to the Town Supervisor’s Office at 321 Bedford Road, Bedford Hills, NY 10507

Supervisor
Lee V. A. Roberts, Supervisor
Two year term ending 12/31/11
Email: Supervisor@BedfordNY.info
Telephone: 914-666-6530
FAX: 914-864-1030

 
Town Board
 
Chris Burdick
Town Board Member
Term ending 12/31/11
Email: CBurdick@BedfordNY.info
 Peter A. Chryssos
Town Board Member, Deputy Supervisor
Term ending 12/31/13
Email: PChryssos@BedfordNY.info
 

Francis T. Corcoran
Town Board Member
Term ending 12/31/13
Email: FCorcoran@BedfordNY.info 
David Gabrielson
Town Board Member
Term ending 12/31/11
Email: DGabrielson@BedfordNY.info
 
Town Justices
The Town of Bedford has two Town Judges, each elected to a four-year term. The Judges hold sessions of Criminal Court, Civil Court and Traffic Court.

 
Kevin Quaranta
Term ending 12/31/11

 Erik P. Jacobsen
Term ending 12/31/13
 
Email: Court@BedfordNY.info
Voice: 914-666-6965
FAX: 914-666-2490

 
Town Clerk
The Town Clerk is elected to a four-year term and duties include, among many, running the Town Elections and serves as the Registrar of Vital Statistics.
Lisbeth (Boo) Fumagalli, Town Clerk
Term ending 12/31/13
321 Bedford Road
Email: TownClerk@BedfordNY.info
Voice: 914-666-4534

 
Westchester County Legislator
2nd County Legislative District
Peter Harckham
Westchester County Office Bldg.
148 Martine Ave.
White Plains, NY 10601
(914) 995-2810
Email: Harckham@westchesterlegislators.com

 Westchester County Clerk
Timothy C. Idoni
110 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd
White Plains, NY 10601
(914) 995-3080
Email: cclerk@westchestergov.com
 
Westchester County Executive
Robert Astorino
148 Martine Avenue
White Plains, NY 10601-3327
(914) 995-2127

 New York State Senate
40th Senate District
Vincent L. Leibell (R-C)
1441 Route 22, Suite 205
Brewster, NY 10509
(845) 279-3773
Email: leibell@senate.state.ny.us
 
New York State Assembly
89th Assembly District
Robert Castelli
4 New King Street, Suite 125
White Plains, NY 10604
(914) 907-2900
Email: castellir@assembly.state.ny.us

 United States Senate
Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D)
531 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-4451
http://gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/

 
United States Senate
Charles E. Schumer (D-IN-L)
757 Third Ave., Rm. 17-02
New York, NY 10017
(212) 486-4430
Email: senator@schumer.senate.gov

 United States House of Representatives
19th Congressional District
John J. Hall ( D)
1217 Longworth House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-5441

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Craig Schuelke’s Forest Hill, Md., basement is a testament to manliness. There’s the Arnold Schwarzenegger pinball machine and about $30,000 of signed Michigan and Maryland sports memorabilia the construction superintendent has enshrined on the walls. An air-hockey table commands one corner, flanked by a pool table, shot-glass collection and dart board.

 Wendy Bounds tells Simon Constable and David Weidner why ‘Man Caves’ aren’t just for men anymore.

It’s a quintessential “man cave,” except for one feature: Mr. Schuelke’s wife, Melanie.

“He doesn’t know what we’re doing when he’s not home,” says Mrs. Schuelke. “My female friends, we shoot pool, drink beer and throw darts down there.”

The man cave has a secret: Women use them, too. Their new interest comes as these spaces have morphed from cold garage outposts into tricked-out comfy spreads, complete with flat screens TVs, fully stocked bars, arcade games and plush (clean!) furniture.

As a result, men are learning to share with the family while combating the inevitable intrusion of scented candles, flowers and kiddie toys. While couples often cozy up together or party in caves with friends, a growing number of women say they retreat there—even holding the occasional quilting party—without the guys.

The struggling housing market is partly behind the evolution of the man cave into a multipurpose space. Rather than trade up or build on, more homeowners are squeezing the most out of their existing living quarters—but splurging on the decor. As a result, today’s man caves are desirable and even luxurious pads that the whole family wants to enjoy.

An entire marketplace has emerged in recent years to outfit these spaces. There’s Man Cave LLC, modeled after Mary Kay cosmetics, where guys hold barbecue parties dubbed “meatings” to sell steak and cave accoutrements, such as bacon-scented candles and beer pagers to locate lost brew. Online retailers mancavemarket.com and themancaveoutletstore.com hawk essentials, such as beer kegerators, pool tables and Skee-Ball games.

Higher-ticket items make women feel more proprietary over caves, originally intended as spots where guys could be alone or hang with pals, says Mike Yost, who runs cave community site mancavesite.org. “If the guys spend on the big-screen TV and chairs, the wife typically is going to have to sign off on it, too.”

The Juggle: A ‘Man Cave’ of One’s Own

Further stoking female cave envy is cable TV’s “Man Caves” show on the DIY Network. Episodes feature bling such as a pool table that rises out of the floor. “These are really, really nice spaces, and when the guys want to spend time there, the family wants to spend time there,” says Andy Singer, DIY Network’s general manager.
 
Cushy chairs Not one, but two cupholders are built into this red-hot Coja Malibu recliner for $1,493.
That’s the case in Robert Butterfield’s Sierra Vista, Ariz., home. His retreat is a 400-square-foot homage to Nascar racers Dale Earnhardt and his son. It also sports a 50-inch TV, couch, hundreds of Diecast model cars, even a Christmas tree decked in Earnhardt ornaments—about a $50,000 investment. Mr. Butterfield, 43, calls it “my space,” but it’s often where his wife Maria and sons also congregate when he’s home from his overseas government-contracting job.

Says Mrs. Butterfield, 45: “I enjoy being in there because it’s kind of like a little getaway from the rest of the house. When I’m in there, I’m not reminded about dishes or laundry.” That’s cool with her husband: “Sure, I like time to chill alone, but I started a family because I wanted to be with them.”

Still, the gender cohabitation raises a nettlesome question: When does a man cave stop being a man cave and become just a family room? “There’s a real blurring of the line between man cave and family room,” warns Minnesota decorator Sue Hunter, who runs mancaveinteriors.com. “I think guys are going to start taking charge back in that area.”

And certainly purists remain, such as Tommy “Buck Buck” Sattler of Islip, N.Y., who rigged his 325-square-foot getaway with New York Giants football paraphernalia, seven TVs, a red-oak bar top, and urinal in the bathroom.

Mr. Sattler flips on an outdoor blue light to let the neighbors know when his “underground lounge” is open, but jokes that women, including his wife, typically stop by only if “they are dropping off food or bringing cleaning products.”

Most guys, however, seem game for co-ed caves—so long as there are ground rules, such as no potpourri or decorative pillows. Ms. Hunter, the man-cave decorator, steers clear of big glass vases and baskets in favor of art, she says, that means something to a man, such as “I want to go kill the buck in that picture.”

Then there’s the “no touch” rule that’s reigned in Mr. Butterfield’s Nascar sanctuary since he found his 4-year-old son’s fingerprints on the display cases with his model cars. “It’s a little bit of an ownership thing,” he says. “I’m really detail oriented, and this is the way I want the room.”

Other regulations are trickier to enforce. Karen Dixon gladly turned over her Friendswood, Texas, garage to husband Shawn, even though parking outside means unloading groceries in the rain. “I’m not controlling, and it makes him happy,” she says. Inside, he’s stationed his Harley Davidson motorcycle, a 1967 Cavalier Coca-Cola machine, pay phone painted Harley orange, and heavy-weight punching bag.

The Dixons, both 38, often play cards together in the cave, but she balks at his suggestion that usage is by “invitation” only. “Really? I think that he doesn’t own it,” says Mrs. Dixon, who believes her husband would be secretly “flattered if I brought my friends in there to have crafts and a book club.” Mr. Dixon’s concern: “I’d be afraid something would be moved and I’d never find it.”

The stickiest time can be during cave construction. Mrs. Dixon advises other women to negotiate time limits. “When Shawn is focused on something, it consumes him. Looking back, what I should have done is said, ‘Spend as much time with your family as with the man cave. If you work out there for an hour, then come inside for an hour.’ ”

Indeed, compromise is critical in any man cave negotiation. Married 36 years, Steve and Pam Flaten, both 56, share space in AutoMotorPlex Minneapolis, a compound of high-end garages ranging from 1,000- to 6,500-square feet for fixing up and storing specialty vehicles.

In the loft living area the Flatens constructed inside their garage, Mrs. Flaten typically quilts while her husband tinkers with his race cars below. Recently she held a quilting party.

Despite the domestic influence, Mr. Flaten has stood his ground on certain points. The racing flames on the toilet seat, those get to stay. The flowers she wanted for an end table, those got moved outside.

Women’s interest in the man cave phenomenon is sparking a logical next step: woman caves. The DIY Network is exploring development of a new show around the concept. Retailer HomeGoods just launched a campaign to outfit what it dubs “Mom Caves.”

WSJ Article

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