Build Meaningful Customer Relationships With These 5 Tips

Successful entrepreneurs understand the importance of being able to develop meaningful customer relationships. It provides you with insight as to what your target market desires and leads to more business. A good way to gauge if your customer relationship is adequate is if you are receiving repeat business from previous customers or not. If it’s the former, there is always room for improvement; stagnation is a business killer. If you’re experiencing the latter, that’s a red flag; a sign that change is necessary for your business to thrive. Increasing your customer retention rate by 5% can yield business owners a 25% to 95% increase in profits, according to a Bain and Company report.

Here are five effective small business best practices used by entrepreneurs worldwide to create and maintain valuable relationships with their customers.

1. Go Above and Beyond

When your heart is put into your work, the result is a higher-quality product or service. SMBs often rely on the quality of what they’re offering to stand out from the competition. Simply put, exceed the customer’s expectations. For example, if you operate a small business, take a look at the competition. Figure out how to improve your product or service by drawing inspiration from them and making what you offer even better. Establish the virtue of patience in your employees and explain to them why you’re emphasizing the need for good relationships; pass your practices onto them. This way, no matter who the customer is dealing with, they are guaranteed to be delighted thus fortifying the customer relationship. It goes without saying that the situation is different for every business. But, developing positively as a business by exceeding expectations is crucial.

2. Focus on Commonalities

When customers are dealing with you directly, a great way to ensure their business is by learning what you have in common with them and discussing it. The topic can be anything, as long as you are genuinely interested in talking about it in an engaging way with the customer. It’s vital to stay away from ‘salesy’ speak when doing this, as prospective clients find it disingenuous. Not connecting with clients in a personal way before attempting to sell to them is an unfortunate mistake many small businesses make. You shouldn’t cost yourself money by not taking the time to be personable. This is one of the most useful business best practices; make it a priority!

3. Don’t Overwhelm Your Clients

According to the research institute MarketingSherpa, a whopping 72% of Americans preferred to communicate with companies via email. We know that email marketing can be useful if appropriately implemented, however many business owners are sending emails far too frequently. It’s essential to have a decent interval between sales emails to customers; too many emails in a short amount of time can be overwhelming and therefore a big turn-off for clients. Instead of sending marketing material to customers every other day, try every other week. You’re likely to have a more positive response.

4. Ask for and Respond to Feedback

Customer feedback is an extremely precious commodity for companies. As mentioned in the first tip, you need to go above and beyond for your customer. Feedback lets you know what your customers feel your business is lacking. Essentially, feedback can be used as a guide for what to do differently. You’re emotionally invested in your business, so it’s important not to take criticism personally. Instead, learning from feedback will give you results. We actively ask our clients at StringCan Interactive to rate our meetings and conduct NPS surveys quarterly.

5. Provide Ample Customer Service

This is more important now than ever. According to a study commissioned by American Express, 70% of consumers have spent more money with a company that delivers excellent customer service. The logic here is simple: customers want to and deserve to be treated with respect and gratitude and will pay more for that privilege. It’s time to start providing it. Answer emails promptly, train staff to be cordial, and do your best to rectify complaints.

Executing these suggestions and many like them can prove to be difficult; it takes a lot of work. I’d love to hear from you about what you do to build meaningful customer relationships!