The key to long-term business success is the ability to establish and maintain good relationships with customers. A good relationship keeps customers wanting to transact with your company, they will even give recommendations to others. However, customers will be disappointed and cut ties if you only put the company’s interests first. Read this article if you want to learn how to build and maintain great customer relationships.
Building Relationships with Customers
Make an effort to get to know the customer personally.
Customers usually prefer doing business with people they already know and can interact with well. So, you need to know the customer personally.
1. When meeting customers, take the time to chat to ask a few things about the company, for example: what products or services does he need, do he have any input he would like to convey, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the business you manage. Try to memorize the customer’s name, family members, and other personal aspects because it will be very useful later on.
2. Keep a detailed record of the customer feedback so you can better understand what the customer is experiencing.
3. Hold special events as an opportunity to meet customers and get to know them on a personal level. Have them ask questions and offer suggestions so you understand their specific wants and needs.
Learn customer preferences and needs by analyzing data obtained through surveys, polls, and questionnaires.
This information is very useful as feedback on the company’s performance to find out what customers want and aspects that need to be improved.
1. Customers who feel cared for and heard are more likely to interact with you and your company, for example through surveys, polls, and questionnaires. This method makes customers choose your company to conduct business transactions.
2. Another aspect that plays an important role in establishing and maintaining relationships with customers is employee satisfaction. Try to find out the level of satisfaction of employees and ask them to provide suggestions for improvement to management. Take advantage of the suggestions as feedback to improve customer satisfaction.
Store customer data by building a database consisting of telephone numbers, home addresses, and e-mail addresses.
You can provide better response and service if you store complete and detailed customer data.
1. A good customer database consists of phone numbers, home addresses and email addresses. In addition, you must have data on customer preferences, purchasing behavior, order history, and customer satisfaction indexes that reflect the company’s performance in meeting customer needs.
Do customer research.
To find out more about customer needs and improve the quality of the relationship between the customer and the company, evaluate the application of procedures and company performance. Apart from that, you need to gather information through market research to find out details about customers.
1. Gather as much information as possible by asking what the customer needs and wants. Also, ask how much their level of satisfaction is so you can repair the relationship and improve the quality of service as a whole.
2. Study specific market segments by analyzing generally accepted market research results to understand market conditions and obtain information that you can use to improve the quality of your business relationships with market segments in certain demographics.
3. Use business analysis programs and computers to gather information so you can communicate with customers more effectively.
Communicating with Customers
Communicate with customers.
Communication is one of the important aspects of establishing relationships with customers. Therefore, you must prepare and utilize as many means of communication as possible.
1. Find ways to keep customers remembering you after the first meeting. Immediately after meeting the customer, contact the customer by sending them an email, newsletter, or other means.
2. Don’t focus solely on the product or service you want to market by contacting customers when you need them to do business. Send information if the company will hold activities or improve the quality of products/services. Sending out the latest news regularly is one way to establish communication between you and your customers that is not solely for the sake of business.
3. Involve customers in business activities. One way to establish good relationships with customers is to make customers feel involved in the development and progress of the company. Strive for two-way communication with customers.
Create social media accounts.
Currently, social media plays an important role in communicating with customers. Prepare to interact with customers through various social media outside of working hours.
1. Create a Facebook, Twitter or other social media account to provide information to customers. Send customers “Friend Requests” so they can access your company account and find out your business profile.
Send a monthly newsletter.
Sending newsletters is a way of informing products/services, and activity plans, and as a promotional medium. Newsletters can be published in printed form or sent by e-mail.
Host special events, parties, and contests and invite customers.
Take advantage of these activities as an opportunity to meet customers face to face, invite them to be actively involved in business activities, and show appreciation for their loyalty to the company.
Ask for feedback from customers.
In addition to asking customers to provide suggestions for new features or products to make them more attractive, provide opportunities for customers to express criticism of the company’s products and services. In addition to increasing customer loyalty, you can get important information about customer needs and satisfaction levels.
1. Tell customers that you need honest, constructive feedback and will consider their suggestions to improve company performance.
2. When customers offer suggestions or criticism, show that you understand what they have to say by listening carefully and providing feedback.
Maintaining Good Relationships with Customers
Be honest with customers.
Remember that customer trust is as important as the quality of the product or service you offer. Therefore, long-term relationships with customers must be forged based on honesty and integrity.
1. Keep commitments. Don’t make promises you can’t keep because this will damage the relationship with the customer.
2. If you have a problem, share it honestly with the customer. You should notify customers immediately if there is a problem, such as when you cannot meet a deadline, have difficulty finding a particular product, or cannot provide a required service.
Acknowledge when errors, problems, or delays occur.
Customers usually know whether you are telling the truth or not providing relevant information. Long-term relationships with customers require transparency and mutual trust.
Say thank you to the customer.
Valuing customer cooperation and loyalty is a way of maintaining good relations with them. In order to expand your business, you not only need new customers but also reward loyal customers.
1. To create customer loyalty, have a rewards program for repeat customers, i.e. people who have invested a significant amount of time and money in your business. Prizes can be in the form of giving cards to collect points, gift cards, and special offers.
Prioritize transparency in transactions.
In running a business, transparency means responding to customer inquiries and complaints by providing satisfactory responses. If you need to find information before answering a question or responding to a customer request, be honest and make a commitment that you can fulfill. This way gives the impression to customers that you value their opinion and always put the customer as the top priority.
1. Create a website so customers can find out the status of their orders, monitor work progress, or get important information about the products or services they need.
Establish a respectful relationship.
Interacting with customers on a personal basis is the best way to build relationships and grow loyalty. The customer’s personal experience when conducting business transactions and the comfort of communicating with you are needed to build a long-term relationship.
1. Speak to customers directly. Difficulty contacting someone and time-consuming telephone operator services tend to be an unpleasant customer experiences.
2. Customers value wholehearted personal service. So don’t rely on external resources to manage your business presentation on social media or as customer service personnel.
Suggestions for you:
1. Don’t be negative to customers. Try to understand what he’s saying, even if it’s based on erroneous assumptions or inaccurate information. Say the important things the customer disclosed and ask if you have understood the explanation correctly. Decide what date and time you will respond so that customers feel heard and can expect real solutions.
2. When communicating, greet customers by saying the name they want. Make it a habit to greet customers with respect, for example using the greeting of father or mother and surname. Use the customer’s first name with permission.
3. Good relationships with customers make problems easier to solve, for example when they are dissatisfied with the service you provide, orders that are delivered late, or requests that are not served properly. Smooth communication will strengthen business relationships so that it is easier for you to find the root of the problem and provide the best solution for both parties.