10 Ways To Connect With Your Clients
In this day and age, customer service is the beating heart of business strategies. It’s simply impossible for your company to stay afloat without a retinue of loyal, positive customers spreading good word-of-mouth about your products or services.
So how can you build these kinds of strong relationships with your customers? What steps can you take to create meaningful connections between you and your demographic? Here are ten ideas.
1: Establish An Connection
One of the best things about social media is how it’s made it easier than ever to bridge the gap between buyer and seller. Instead of relying on questionnaires or feedback surveys, you can enjoy direct, interactive communication with the very people who keep your business going.
2: Write An FAQ
Frequently asked questions are a great way to show your customers that you’re listening. They’ll also save you time, energy and even money when you don’t have to pay customer service representatives to answer the same queries over and over again.
3: Understand Their Struggles
If you’re a real estate agent with clients who are toiling in a bad market, it does no one any good to pretend that everything’s fine. Instead of watching their difficulties from an ivory tower, acknowledge their setbacks and incorporate their new needs into your business strategy.
4: Keep A Finger On The Pulse
Staying in step with pop culture will lend you relevance and humility to the world at large. For example, Bob Bratt is a distinguished investment advisor and the COO of a multinational, multimillion dollar company, and he still finds time to tweet about Justin Bieber.
5: Get On The Phone
Never underestimate the power of a live voice on the other end of the line. While most people claim to hate unsolicited phone calls, the truth is that they just don’t like telemarketers. As long as you don’t try to sell them anything, they’ll appreciate the personal touch of a direct call when you’re responding to complaints or following through with questions.
6: Send Personalized Messages
Automated messages can be a necessary evil when dealing with a large volume of clients, but whenever possible, try to add a human touch to your interaction. Refer to them by name, offer new coupons based on old purchases, et cetera.
7: Start A Newsletter
Recent studies have shown that email marketing is one of the most effective ways to attract and retain customers. Not only does it establish a personal connection every time you send something to their inbox, but it also helps you build trust and credibility for your brand.
8: Monitor Your Reputation
What are people saying about you on review sites? How can you take any displeasure and turn it into a positive for your company? Remember, word of worth is king when it comes to customer retention.
9: Empower Your Salespeople
Give your employees the autonomy to build meaningful, one-on-one relationships with your customers. Stop forcing them to abide by scripts or hit arbitrary quotas when they could be focusing their energy on more effective customer relations.
10: Respond to Compliments
When someone takes time out of their day to praise you, the least you can do is offer your gratitude. Do it for enough people and you’ll create a ripple effect of positivity that spreads across email, web forums and social media combined.