Customer relationships are a different aspect of your business than customer service.
Customer service is a short-term part of running a business. Customer relations, on the other hand, is a long-term strategy where you build up the trust and loyalty of customers to foster the business’s future growth.
However, just like good customer service, investing in and building strong lasting customer relationships is critical, or you risk losing customers to competitors.
One commonality between the ways to build lasting, positive customer relationships is to keep communication open and the conversation going. Your customers should know you have their back and are always available whenever needed.
Make retaining customers a central focus of your business’s marketing plan
Once you have established customers, the most important thing is to work on retaining them—customer retention should be one of your main priorities in building lasting customer relationships. Repeat customers should be a significant focus of your company’s marketing plan.
Because, plain and simple, it’s easier to keep an established customer than to recruit a new one.
Plus, current customers are easier to encourage to come back more frequently or spend money on larger purchases.
An excellent way to work on retention is by utilizing customer relationship management (CRM) tools like Jobber, Service Autopilot, or Real Green Systems. Keep track of returning customers, their preferences, and their purchasing habits. Use this data to offer new products or services or expand the relationship with bigger, more complex transactions.
Communicate consistently and effectively during projects
Make timely, efficient communication with your customers a priority. At the beginning of a project, make it clear that you will consistently communicate, keeping the customer updated on progress. Then, follow through with that promise and keep them in the loop.
It’s easy to let communication fall by the wayside when you’re focused on getting work done and projects completed. You don’t need to check in every step of the way, and communication with a single client shouldn’t negatively affect your productivity, but staying true to your word and maintaining communication demonstrates the client’s project and their satisfaction are essential.
Tailor communications to foster personalized relationships
Email communication is integral to your marketing strategy, but communication with your customers should extend further than the typical email blasts. You don’t want all of the communication going out to your customers centered on trying to sell your company’s services.
You can tailor communication to discuss significant industry developments. You can keep it personal by wishing them a happy birthday. You can remind them about features they’ve purchased but aren’t utilizing fully.
When your communications aren’t always about getting them to buy something else, the relationship will appear more genuine and won’t seem so one-sided.
Always aim to exceed expectations
A fundamental aspect of building a successful business and developing strong customer relationships is creating a reputation for yourself as someone who delivers exceptional results.
Giving your customers more than they expect is a surefire way to keep them coming back and get them to refer you to their friends and family.
Go above and beyond expectations, but be cautious not to oversell yourself and promise unrealistic results. By setting reasonable expectations, you create an opportunity to wholly impress the client with your services or the final project while positioning your business as someone they want to continue working with.
Be open-minded yet maintain expertise
Your clients must trust you and see you as an expert to build strong, lasting customer relationships. Maintaining some openness and listening to your customer’s point of view regarding the project is also essential.
However, while it’s tempting to want to appear agreeable and avoid confrontation regarding their opinions, you should maintain your expertise and opinion about their project. Confidently express your opinion and stand by your point of view to uphold your reputation and ensure you deliver high-quality services. You are the expert, after all.
Ask for customer feedback
We’ve talked about successfully boosting online reviews, and while this is similar, it’s also slightly different.
You certainly want customers to leave glowing reviews online, but you also want to open communication and get honest feedback on your service(s). This allows the client to offer suggestions on how you can improve or where you can make changes to improve customer satisfaction.
This feedback is valuable to you for building lasting relationships with other clients. It also shows how much you value your customers’ opinions and the quality of service you provide.
To get specific feedback, you can create a survey through Google Forms or another platform that allows them to provide general feedback and answer particular questions. Once you receive it back, follow up with a thank you, ensuring you let them know you appreciate their time and effort.
Build trust with your customers
Lastly, you have to have a strong element of trust with your customers. It’s critical to any successful working relationship and lasting customer relationships.
When working with a business, customers expect a certain level of quality, consistency, and timeliness. Make sure you work hard to meet their expectations and keep from letting them down. And if for some reason you do—because sometimes, things happen—apologize, truthfully explain what happened, and describe what you’ll change to keep it from happening again.
Ready Business Systems can help you build lasting customer relationships
For more information about the services Ready Business Systems offers and how we can effectively help grow your business and build lasting customer relationships, call us at 1-800-485-1404 or visit our Contact page.
