subject: Top Secrets You Need To Know About Improving Customer Relationship [print this page] Businesses depend on a continuous process of improving customer relationship. Customers are the lifeline of all businesses, whether they are land based or online, and they need to be nurtured regularly to turn them into lifers for the company. In tough times like the one we are facing now, businesses need to calculate every dollar and value every customer. With several options open to them, customers are never short of alternatives as many new businesses are also coming up in vengeance as some others get foreclosed.
Your primary aim at the very beginning would be to know your customers well. Even if they make a one time purchase of your goods and services, they could be long term investments for your business. If you can build and improve the relationship with customers, they would come back and also refer others to buy from you. Knowing about their birthdays and other interests would enable you to interact with them more and resort to small gestures like sending cards or greetings on special occasions.
If you check your customer database you can easily identify customers that have stayed with you for long. In both bad times and good times, they had stuck with you. They are your greatest asset as they can bring in more referrals than others. Your best bet would be to separate the loyal customers from the fly-by-night types. You could offer them special discounts on occasions or some free gifts on a predetermined amount of purchase.
Free offers, promos and cash prizes are showered on particular days and during special events and you could keep them updated with newsletters, fliers and emails. As they are bound to feel great about being feted, they would turn into effective agents for word-of-the-mouth advertising.
Your loyal customers are your best sales persons and leaving aside the occasional offers and prizes, you don't need to invest much. Building loyal customers is a great challenge for your business as improving customer relationship is. You need to keep tabs on all you customers and reach them before they can reach you for even the most minor issues. If a customer remains silent after buying your product, you should not take it for granted that he or she is satisfied.
Silence can also mean that customers are dissatisfied and instead of approaching you, prefer to source their next purchase from somewhere else. Improving customer relationship also depends a lot on the level of customer service that your company can provide to them after they buy your product. Even if they wouldn't say so, all customers expect hands-on help and support after buying a new product or service.
You should be always accessible and your staff trained to attend to all their queries round the clock. Being available on a continuous basis would go along way in improving customer relationship.
