5 WAYS TO BUILDING BETTER CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

Are you  a start-up business owner with little money to devote to marketing. Wouldn’t it make sense to enlist your customers to market for you then? Never under-estimate word-of-mouth marketing. If you  build solid  relationships with your clients, they can be your best marketing asset.

Personalize: Gather all information about your customers and develop a personalized communication approach towards them. Make sure the messages you send are relevant and add value to your customers. 

Stay in touch: Cross selling and up-selling are great, but it is even better to stay in touch with your customers for no reason at all. You can do so by sending them greetings during holidays and other special days like birthdays. It sends the message across that you really care about them, and that they are not just another name on your marketing database.

Accommodate: All businesses have policies, and they are needed to keep the business functioning smoothly. However, sometimes it helps to walk that extra mile and bend the policy a little bit for the benefit of your customers. Not only will you retain the customer, but you will be more likely to be recommended over your competitors. 

Pricing: Take a second look at your pricing policies from time-to-time. How do you fare among your competitors? Has a customer ever complained about your pricing? If yes, reconsider what you are charging. There may be times when you cannot always compete on price—then play the quality card. Ensure what you are providing is worth every cent that the customer’s paying.

Feedback: Maintaining customer relationship demands that you listen to your customers. Send feedback forms to your customers. Have your salespersons call them up to check if they are experiencing any difficulty using your product. Have a customer care executive place a call to check their satisfaction level with your service. Once you get the feedback, make sure you put it to use so that the gap between customer expectations and product/service delivery is tightly closed.

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing…and the only way to get that for your small business is by building strong customer relationships.