Good customer relationships are essential to the success of your business. You may have the best product on the market or offer the best business services in your industry, but if your customers feel mistreated, ignored, or cheated, they won’t do business with you again. If you want enthusiastic, repeat sales, you must find ways to engender good relationships with your customers and inspire their loyalty.
Here are a few ways you can do that:
Use the Right Customer Management Software
A good CRM will help you keep track of all the interactions you have with customers, from their responses to your emails to the sales they make. You’ll be able to make notes about any feedback you got from them, the attitude they had when you talked on the phone, their responsiveness to your sales pitch, and so on. You can also analyze the data to find patterns. For example, you might note that they were making regular sales until a certain date and then contact dropped off considerably. You could look for more clues around that date to figure out why. If there was a problem, you can correct it. If there were financial issues, you could offer a special discount.
The right CRM software can also help you with things like CPQ strategies, which will ensure you get the right pricing for each customer and you do it quickly to make more sales. Spend some time comparing software choices to ensure you get the right one.
Offer Some Freebies
Everyone loves freebies. You will win a lot of goodwill with your customers if you find ways to give them things for free. You might offer a free gift with a purchase, or you might offer a sale that allows them to get the equivalent of free items, such as a buy one, get one free. You can give things away through contests on social media, or you can give things away in person at industry events or community festivals.
If you really want to make an impression, consider giving away free items when it’s the person’s birthday or their customer anniversary with your company. Choose something that is cost-effective for your business but that is of sufficient value to be meaningful to the customer.
Engage on Social Media
Social media offers businesses of all kinds a great opportunity to have casual conversations with their customers (and potential customers). The dialogue isn’t all about what you sell or how great your business is. Instead, you can share posts that provide valuable information or that are great interest to your customers. You can also share posts that are just plain funny, inspirational, or interesting.
Your goal should be to get more engagement on your social media channels in the form of likes, shares, comments, retweets, mentions, and more. The more engagement you get, the more of a connection that your customers will feel to your brand. That connection will nurture a relationship, and you can build on it with the service you provide. If you aren’t getting the right engagement on social media, you need to revise your strategy.
Address Problems Immediately
No matter what you do, there are bound to be some problems along the way. There may be a miscommunication between your business and your customer. There may be a mixup in the order. The product may have an unexpected flaw. There are many things that can go wrong through no fault of your own.
When problems arise, you should address them immediately. The way you handle those problems will reflect on your business. Handle them well, and you will win over your customers and develop a reputation for exceptional service. Handle them poorly, and you will alienate customers and develop a reputation that will drive away future customers.
Create a good relationship with your customers and you will win their loyalty so that you get ongoing, repeat sales. Neglect your relationships and you will have to work hard for every single sale you get. Using the right CRM software, providing good service, engaging on social media, and offering your customers some perks will help you create long-lasting and positive relationships with your customers that will secure your ongoing success.