The Three “Rs” of Online Success: They Aren’t Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmitic

The three Rs of online success: customer retention, employee retention, vendor retention. Think about this for a minute and I think you’ll agree with me.

Customer Retention

Successful Companies:

  • Get rave reviews for customer service
  • Acquire a customer once but get repeat orders for a lifetime
  • Live and breathe the notion that ‘the customer is always right’

Failing Companies:

  • Think of customer service as a cost center and nothing else
  • Expect customers to buy once and never again
  • Regard customers as suckers that can be tricked to maximize revenue

Employee Retention

Successful Companies:

  • Believe that employees are the lifeblood of the company
  • Understand that money is not the primary motivator for employees (a feeling of accomplishment and respect for peers is)
  • Hire and retain team players
  • Refuse to tolerate self-interested politics

Failing Companies:

  • Do not trust their employees
  • Believe that employees should be thankful to be working for them
  • Believe that employees are interchangeable and replaceable

Vendor Retention

Successful Companies:

  • Pay vendors promptly
  • Are tough but fair on deliverables
  • Strive to build long-term relationships

Failing Companies:

  • Always pay late and require constant reminding
  • Are tough on deliverables, and come up with reasons to dispute work
  • Only care about price and switch vendors whenever they get a lower quote

How would you rate your company?

About David Rodnitzky

David Rodnitzky is founder and CEO of PPC Associates. He currently serves on advisory boards for several companies, including Marin Software, MediaBoost, Mediacause, and a stealth travel start-up. David has a B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago and a J.D. with honors from the University of Iowa. In his spare time, David enjoys salmon fishing, hiking, spending time with his family, and watching the Iowa Hawkeyes, not necessarily in that order.
This entry was posted in Analytics. Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to The Three “Rs” of Online Success: They Aren’t Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmitic

  1. Naijabator Marketing says:

    Nice tips, sometimes we need to be reminded of such qualities so as to stay on the track of successful business.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>