How to Segment Customer List & Focus on Your Best Customers?

Some Customers are More Equal than Others

Businesses will always say that all of their customers are important to them. However, when it comes to making money, your best customers are always going to be the ones who buy the most from you.

Customer Segmentation. Source: PanoramaStock

So how do you identify which customers you should focus on? 

 First segment your customer list, and separate your best customers from the rest. You know that they're more serious than others, and chances are, the reason they're spending that money with you is because they have more money to spend. The secret to growing your business is to continue to get these customers to re-buy from you and if possible, attract more customers like these.

Segment your customer list data in different ways. 

First, split clients up by the amount they spend. You can also segment them by the type of products or services they buy from you. In some cases, you can segment them by the year or the quarter that they start buying from you. Now rank your lists as A, B, C and D, with A being your best customers.

When you're developing a new product or service offering, do so with your very best customers in mind. Present the offering to the A list first. You have built a relationship of trust with these customers so they will want to buy from you. As long as your product or service offers them an attractive benefit (faster, cheaper, better, etc.) they are more likely to buy from you than anybody else.

Once you get through the A list, move on to the B list and so on. By the time you get to the C list you need to consider how well you are doing. Is selling to the C list taking far more time and effort than selling to your A list? If so then perhaps it’s time to stop. Maybe your time would be better spent creating a new product or service to sell to your A list.

With your client list segmented this way, every time you have an idea for a new product or service, take it straight to your  best customers and try to sell it there first, maximising your chances of success. You will have to try harder and invest more resources (time and money) to sell to the rest of your customer base or indeed, to new customers.  Since all customers aren't equal, those who spend more money with you deserve more.

As such your business can afford to spend more money on them in an attempt to cross sell to them and to retain their custom.  
You should reward your best customers. 
Show them that you appreciate them by making them feel special. 
Send them a card at Christmas and invite them along to an annual client drinks party. 
Anything that shows them that your company values their custom will help to maintain their loyalty.

How will you segment your customers? or will you treat all your customers the same?

Restriction Of Buy To Let Interest

In the Summer Budget it was announced that mortgage interest relief for buy to let landlords would start being phased out from 2017/18 onwards and restricted to basic rate only from 2020/21.

Now that the Finance Bill has been published the full impact of this change is starting to emerge and for some landlords this will result in a significant increase in the tax payable as their rental profits will now be taxed at higher rates. This is because mortgage interest will no longer be an allowable deduction in arriving at rental profits.

For example a landlord with £60,000 of gross rental income, £6,000 of agent’s commission, £8,000 of repairs and other expenses and £40,000 of interest would currently have £6,000 of net rental profits.

However, from 2017/18 the interest relief will start being restricted, and from 2020/21 there will be no deduction for interest, which would mean that, assuming the rent and expenses remain the same, the taxable rental income would be £46,000.

For many landlords this will mean that the rent will fall into the higher rate tax bands and the £40,000 interest will result in a £8,000 basic rate tax reducer to set against the tax liability.



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VAT On Mixed Supplies

Care needs be taken when invoicing if your business makes supplies, some of which are standard rates and others which are potentially zero rated or exempt for VAT.

A recent VAT Tribunal case has reinforced the rule established in the Card Protection Plan case that if the supply comprises a single service from an economic point of view it should not be artificially split.

In the recent case, a company provided marketing and promotional services including brochures and other publications. It was held that the supply of printed matter (potentially zero rated) was merely ancillary to the principal supply of marketing and promotional services so the entire services should follow the principal supply and be standard rated, even if separately invoiced.

Please get in touch with us if these rules potentially affect your business and you need advice on your invoicing.




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3 points to note on New Rules For Dividends From 2016/17

Summer Budget 2015 came up with the new taxation of dividends that will apply from 6 April 2016. Further guidance has now been published by HMRC setting out how the new rules will operate and it seems the rules don’t work as many people expected.

1. As previously reported, there will be no 10% credit against the tax on dividends which means there will be a 7½ % increase in the rate of tax on dividends once the £5,000 dividend allowance has been used up.

2. Currently dividends falling into the basic rate band are effectively tax free. However the £5,000 allowance needs to be taken into consideration in determining the rate of tax on your dividends.

For example if you have salary and other non- dividend income of £40,000 next year and £9,000 in dividends, the £4,000 of taxable dividends are taxed at 32.5%, not £3,000 at 7.5% then £1,000 at 32.5%. This is because the £5,000 is added to the £40,000 income pushing the taxable dividends into the higher rate band.

3. If you own your own company it may be beneficial to bring forward dividend payments from next year to save the additional 7.5%. However, it would be important to consider all of the tax implications of such actions so come and talk to us to discuss your options.




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Transfer Of Tax Losses

Where a company makes a trading loss that cannot be relieved against other profits that year, or the previous year, the unrelieved loss can be carried forward against future profits from the same trade that incurred the losses. This carry forward also applies where the trade is transferred to another company under common control (basically 75% common ownership before and after the transfer).

A recent case before the First Tier Tribunal has held that where the trade is transferred to another company under common control carrying on the same trade, the brought forward losses may be set against the future profits of the merged trade as it was successfully argued that the loss making trade was subsumed into the profitable trade. The two companies concerned were both trading as department stores and the similarity of the two trades and rebranding of the stores into the same trading name was seen to be critical.  In the particular case (Leekes Ltd v HMRC) the loss making trade was hived up following the acquisition of a competitor and merged with a profitable trade.

HMRC may yet appeal the court’s decision but it may be something to take into consideration if you are considering an acquisition or reorganising your group structure.

PJ
Feel free to contact us for further advice.
☎ 020 89310165 | 📱 07900537459 | ✉ info@apjaccountancy.com