Two important areas that every business – large or small – needs to address are Customer and Employee Retention and Cost Per Impression

Customer and Employee Retention

Look at the facts:

* The average U.S. company loses 50% of its customer base every five years.
* Nearly half of the customers who change companies they do business with say their top reason for the change was customer service.
* Most companies can double their profits by reducing customer defection by just 5%.
* A lost employee costs a company an average of $70,000.

These statements will hopefully encourage you to take a look at the importance of improving your company’s performance in the areas of customer and staff retention. Giving a gift to reward an employee, thanking a customer for a new order, or renewing interest in an area where your sales have been lagging may not only bring you more money, but save you some money, too.

Cost Per Impression

Advertising and promotion is all about Cost Per Impression: how much does your business need to pay to send a message to an average customer?

In an ad campaign, Cost Per Impression (CPI) is computed by dividing the total cost of the campaign by the number of people reached. Considering the fact that most promotional campaigns reach a broad audience that might only include a very small percentage of interested parties, CPI can easily be in the hundred dollar range for your prime prospects.

With an ad campaign, you’ll also get a lot of exposure. But once the initial impression has been made, the message can be quickly forgotten.

A well-chosen gift, on the other hand, stays with important contacts as a reminder of your business. In some cases, that could be for years, long after your coupon has been tossed or the newspaper ad has been recycled.

With a promotional gift, CPI is computed by dividing the cost of your gift, by the average number of days it’s used. The cost of a Messerstahl gift, for example, could be $75. The average number of days that the gift will be used per year could easily be 200 or more. That means that the average cost of reminding your customers, prime prospects and employees about your company—JUST FOR THE FIRST YEAR—is about 35 cents per impression. Compare that with the cost of a radio spot, mailing or circular!