Humans engage in building relationships all their lives, be it with their friends, family, employers, colleagues or peers; and of course, customers. Building sound relationships with your customers is one strategic key to make your business a success story.
Whether you’re running your business traditionally or online, it’s important to remember that people still like to buy from people. Even when purchasing from large product-driven companies, like Amazon or Walmart or Apple, customers want to know that there are real people behind the company. It inclines them to organizations that have ethical values, things they stand for, and go out of their way to connect.
That’s why it’s important for you to establish real relationships with your customers and continually work on enriching them.
In 2003, Zappos was a small company with 90 employees. The company was short on its working capital and struggling with the fiercely competitive challenges in the market. Today, this same business has the strength of over 1,800 employees and generates over a billion dollars in merchandise sales, becoming one of the topnotch E-commerce enterprises of the day.
How did this simple online shoe store fetch a $1.2 billion price tag from mega-giant Amazon? What was their secret sauce that made it reach super star status within the business world?
Admirably, it focused on how to build customer relationships and by placing the customer back into the heart of everything they do.
In today’s virtual world, even if you have a traditional brick and mortar business, an online presence is necessary to continue to grow and mark your true potential. The Internet expands business avenues. It is a powerful tool as most consumers analyze the market to make purchases, research new products and become better informed on the latest advancements on their favorite products.
So, meet your customers where they are by having an effective online presence. Be on top of mind with your customers – all the time. Building relationships is a long-term proposition – it surely doesn’t happen overnight.
Many organizations take steps to build customer relationships with unrealistic marketing strategies and sales tactics only to abandon them, eventually. Regular phone check-ins with customers sound like a great idea initially but dwindle off as it progresses. Direct mail programs are often suspended because of lack of response. And online programs like E-newsletters and blogs are discontinued for lack of time to create interesting content.
How to Creatively Build Customer Relationships?
- Excite through Superior Service
Zappos is popularly known for free overnight shipping, attaching little notes inside packages or even sending flowers to customers least expecting. These little personalized touches strike a chord and have helped create loyal customers for the company. Going over and beyond the call of duty has the potential to create a lasting impact on the mind of the consumer.
Just think of the last time someone did something nice for you when you least expected it. Chances are it made you feel special. Treating customers as special people you care about is one of the best strategies to build customer relationships.
- Treat Customer Service as a Profit Center
By treating every interaction you have with your customer – be it in person, through email, or over the phone – as an opportunity to enhance customer relationships, you can improve on brand loyalty and even create a memorable experience. Be cordial, act genuine, and adhere to all of your commitments.
If you treat customer service as a place to generate long-term profits, rather than another expense, they will handsomely reward you in return. Remember, one of the most powerful marketing tools is the word of mouth.
If you truly create a positive experience that customers crave, they will reciprocate you with just that. They will wholeheartedly become ambassadors that continually introduce people to your brand.
- Handle Dissatisfaction Carefully
To build a long-term relationship it requires building lasting conversations that generate positive vibes. Lasting does not mean lengthy but continual conversations that convert into healthy relationships. It requires creating pleasant memories that last and interactions that register themselves on the client’s mind.
To ensure positive customer experiences, be willing to continue a conversation way beyond the initial transaction. So, a sale transaction can be the beginning of a budding romance that must be consistently nurtured. And that includes dealing with unpleasant situations as well.
While obviously, no business enjoys admitting fault or having to deal with an uncomfortable situation, researchers have observed that rectifying a mistake quickly and professionally can actually reinforce customer loyalty.
- Proactively Expect Customer Needs
Sometimes knowing your customers’ needs, even before they do, has an amazing potential to build customer relationships. While you may not have access to tons of analytical data to track every detail of each customer’s buying behavior, simply working to understand your individual customers can be a better approach to devising gratifying customer services.
By realizing what a particular customer liked or disliked during their last purchase can enable you to enhance their future experiences more satisfactorily. It would be valuable information to find out first-hand what you can do to enhance their entire shopping experience.
Working to understand your customers and predict their evolving needs can have huge payoffs in the long-run and help build fruitful customer relationships.
- Take Ownership of Their Issues
While being charitable is always a good thing, it can also give leverage to build customer relationships and heighten loyalty. By implementing Michael Porter’s concept of “Shared Value”, you can emotively bind the consumer to your brand through attaching to pressing social issues of the day.
Emotion is an essential element in any relationship, including the one you have with your customers. So get set, spark the fire, and add some emotion to tread on the path to insanely loyal customers.
From empirical studies conducted on the business of merchandise sales, it is evident that a successful customer relationship management program revolves around building a network of loyal customers through a process of rewards, loyalty schemes and quality services.
What are relationship building activities?
- Build a Customer Database
Before you start with your relationship building program, it is important to compile information and build a database listing the names, profiles, and other important information regarding your customers. It can include their purchasing power, type and frequency of purchases, and the social media they frequently visit.
- Aim on Your Potential Targets
Identify the customers that are likely to be most loyal to your company and brand. Then draw up a plan for building customer loyalty, like special schemes, offers, incentives, etc. that can encourage them to make a purchase.
- Communicating with Customers
Get in touch with your clients through emails, newsletters, anniversary cards, gifts, invitations to special events, etc. These are vehicles to build healthy customer relationships. While emails and postcards are fine, there is nothing more personal as making a phone call for eliciting customer relationships.
Enhancing the Interpersonal Relationship
Once you have started the customer relationship management program, you need to streamline the process to boost its effectiveness. This can be done in the following ways.
- Training Employees
First, you must inculcate your employees with the practical details of customer relationship management. Developing interpersonal skills of your employees is as important to your business as other job-related skills.
- Better Services
Nothing facilitates customer satisfaction like smooth, efficient and trouble-free services. The success mantra to engage customers is – better your service, the more customers you can win, and retain.
- Recovery Process
The way your business handles complaints, negative comments and problems related to goods and services provided to customers say volumes about your customer relationship skills and the “recovery” process of your organization.
When a customer complains of a defect in the item they bought from you, do you replace it after verifying their complaint? Or do you refuse to take responsibility for the quality of your service? Or do you proactively suggest a refund if such a policy exists?
To be effective, you must tailor such programs and initiatives that cater to your customers’ actual needs and interests.It shouldn’t be a marketing hype to gain popularity. For example, if a company overwhelms its potentially loyal customers with frequent mailings comprising trivial or unappealing offers, it may turn itself into a nuisance instead of encouraging loyalty.
Often small, day-to-day policies have a significant impact. General Motors’ customer-friendly Saturn unit enjoyed unusually high customer loyalty through simple measures like integrated software that stored their vehicle history, a one-price sales policy, free car washes and refreshments at their service center, and an annual event for customers at the company’s Tennessee headquarters.
Does your company have an effective customer relationship program? Would you like us to tailor-make a value-added relationship program to improve your customer loyalty?
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NEED HELP TO IMPROVE YOUR CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP?
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