There's more to business than just a transaction. In the article, Branding Your Small Business, one of the helpful tips for branding was to make sure that interaction between customers and business is an experience not just a transaction. Making a business transaction an experience not only helps with branding, it also helps build a strong relationship between a business and a customer. Marketing studies have shown that often times, customers are willing to pay more for a product and/or service if they have a personal connection with a company.
Ways to Build a Lasting Customer Relationship
1. Keep in Touch: Always ask your customers for feedback regarding your services.Showing you care about their satisfaction level speaks volumes about your commitment to them. It can also provide you with an opportunity to gain insight on other products and services that you can offer to gain repeat business. If your customers have not done business with you in a while, check to see how you can help them. It may also serve as a reminder that they may need your product or service.
2. Utilize your phone. Even if most of your communication takes place through e-mail, it's still important to pick up the phone occasionally to touch base with your customers. Personal interaction is an important element in building a relationship.
3. Network! Network! Network! Networking occurs in a variety of ways. Join associations or clubs that are geared towards your business field. If you get a customer whose products/service you don’t offer, but you know who does, refer the customer to that person. Often times, they will in turn refer customers to you.
4. Tailor your approach. While your customers may seek the same products/service from you, no one customer is the same. Since customers are very diverse, your approach should be just as diverse. No matter how diverse your method of dealing with your customers is, it has to be genuine and within your comfort zone or it may backfire on you.
8. Listen, listen, and listen. Your customer may provide cues that might be your gateway to providing a personal touch. If they indicate that their child is heading off to their first year of college, or they are taking a long awaited vacation, jot these things down on a calendar so you can ask how things went when you do a follow-up call. Or they might state that it was their birthday last week. Put that on your calendar so the following year you can send a birthday greeting.
Building any type of a relationship takes time and requires a lot of patience. It's an essential part of your business to help maintain and grow your customer base.
