Beverlee Rasmussen CEC PCC You and your customer make a beautiful couple.
Whether you’re a bricks and mortar store, a service-based business, or an online entrepreneur, the lifeblood of your business is the relationship you build with your customers.
“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them”. – W Edward Deming (1954)
Relationships are a two-way street — in order to build a strong bond with your customers, you need to show understanding, recognize their needs, and put systems in place that will keep customers feeling loved.
Here are 5 ways to say “I Love You” to your customers.
1. Tell your customers how great they are.
Brainstorm ways that you and your team can appreciate your customers through your language, your actions, and your support.
You want to keep clients and customers coming back and telling their friends and colleagues how much they love you.
2. Tell your customers that you’re here for them through thick or thin.
Relationships go through good and bad times. The bad times are easier if you plan ahead for them. Returns, product or price issues, service problems – anything that inevitably crops up in your business needs a plan. (If you don’t know what those are, I guarantee that lack of knowledge is hurting your bottom line.)
Have policies around problems that are easy and straightforward, keeping a positive long-term result in mind.
3. Stay in touch with your customers.
Say hi, be authentic, tell them you’re thinking about them and what you can do for them. The method you use to do this will fit you and your customer base.
Some possibilities are: a face-to-face meeting, a personal note, a warm email with a loving subject line, social media with an image and message that they know is meant just for them.
4. Ask for your customers’ input – and listen to it.
Business is dynamic. You’ll want to check in with your customers and see what they’re thinking and what they like – and don’t like – about doing business with you. Doing this will help you spot trends in what your customer is interested in and amaze them with what they didn’t even know they wanted!
5. Let your customers know you’re here for the long haul.
People like to buy from someone they trust — someone who authentically wants to see them again and again. Treat your customers as though you want to build a long-term relationship with them and that’s exactly what will happen. And they’ll even bring their friends. Now that’s some love!
What is the longest business relationship you have had and why? What part of your experience of doing business with them makes you keep coming back for more?
Something to think about!
– Beverlee
