The maxim that the only certain things in life are death and taxes needs an amendment - we need to add "change" . We are not only facing change but an ever-increasing pace of change.

Dublin-based marketing consultant Marc Thornton says many companies don't realise that, while they are constantly gaining new customers, they are losing customers at the same time. Thornton calls this phenomenon the "leaky bucket".

The opening-up of the European Union means most companies face more competition from non-traditional as well as traditional competitors.

New entrants have appeared in the Irish market such as Bank of Scotland, offering lower interest rates on mortgages and forcing Irish competitors to react.

Not all customers are equal - the challenge is to identify customers with the greatest long-term potential. Marketing strategies focused on lifetime customers will be more profitable.

Having attracted customers, you now have to keep them. You can do this by portraying a friendly image, investing in follow-up calls, keeping in touch with customers, introducing loyalty schemes such as Superquinn's Superclub or Dunnes Stores's Value Club. Thornton points out that customer care is not about grand gestures but small touches that make a difference when trying to "delight" the customer.

Staff motivation is critical and money is not the only motivator: everybody likes to be praised, managers should not be afraid to delegate, and employees might like to be rewarded with shorter hours rather than a salary increase.

These are some practical suggestions on motivation that may help to prevent an annoyed customer saying to an unhelpful, obviously unmotivated, employee: "You are an overhead, I am profit."

Winning Lifetime Customers sets out to be a practical, easy-to-read guide with plenty of suggestions on how to implement customer care. Its chapters include charts, diagrams, checklists and strategy summaries.

A short bibliography is supplied, which includes a number of Irish titles, illustrating the growth of business publishing here.

Its main weakness is that the summaries and diagrams interrupt the flow and so there is no narrative, which makes it somewhat disjointed. But the book is a useful addition to marketing studies and should interest both students and those actually running a business.

jmulqueen@irish-times.ie