Your business is not supported and not fuelled by independent sales and transactions. It is made by the very real relationships with the very real people who make those transactions. If you’re not working to build a real relationship with those customers, then they’re not going to keep coming back to make those transactions. A lot of businesses fail to invest in customer relationships beyond simply marketing towards them then taking their money. Here are ways to make sure you’re not missing out on the added lifetime value, loyalty, and word of mouth that good customer relationships can bring.

Make sure they have the means to communicate

First of all, relationships have to be two-way, to some extent. If your customers don’t have the means to share their feedback and to have their concerns and questions addressed, they are going to move on to competitors that better appreciate their time. Ensure that you open up routes for communication from them, be it through the phone, an email address they can reach, or a customer support system built onto your website. You should do what you can to heighten their voice and to make them feel heard, rather than having barriers between them and the answers they might need to make proper use of your products and services in the first place.

Don’t waste their time

This applies to every single step of the customer’s relationship with your business. The more you respect their time, the more likely they are to convert and to keep coming back. If your site, shop, support, and other functions of the business are inefficient, they’re more likely to get frustrated and to abandon whatever they were trying to do, before too long. As such, look at how you can create a great user experience on the website. Make it easier for them to find the answers to their questions. Don’t waste their time with pop-ups and unnecessary queries when they’re looking for support. Go through every customer interaction you can and ask yourself “how does this waste their time and how can I streamline it?”

Provide valuable content that they want to read

There are going to be customers who want to know specific information related to your products and services. They want to know how to use them to meet their goals, what barriers your products and services can help erase, and other things, besides. If your business relies on specific expertise and problem solving, one of the best ways to show it off and to provide value to customers at no cost is to write informative, educational, and otherwise valuable content for your website. Your blog can help address a range of questions and concerns in a digestible and convenient format without customers having to get involved with direct customer support.

Remember who they are

Each customer is an individual. You might think it impossible to keep track of every single person who comes to your website or gets on the phone with you, but modern digital technology has made it easier to track them than ever before. Find a CRM, or customer relationship management software, that helps your team take down details on not just how the customer is and what they want, but every single interaction they have had with your company in the past. That way, the next time they get in touch, you can personalise their experience and, even more importantly, skip the information-finding questions that might not be necessary. You can more quickly get to their concerns, making them feel respected as an individual.

Positivity is crucial

Providing the answers and information that your customers need is one thing, but the tone of the interaction with your service/support departments is just as important as the actual content of it. Your team needs to work with the understanding that customer service isn’t about problem-solving alone or even foremost. The first priority is to help your customers. As such, you can train your team to use positive language, affirming customer concerns while addressing them, and empathising with them to help create the feeling that your customers have someone that is on their side. Of course, to ensure that your team can provide a positive attitude that fuels good customer service interactions, you need to respect and fulfil their needs, as well. If your team isn’t given the care that they need, you can’t expect them to feel good about helping customers, either.

Be careful with what you promise

You want to convert customers and to get them on-side with your business. As such, you will do what you can to negotiate and convince. However, when it comes to client promises, you should always err on the side of promise and avoid overpromising. You want to always be exceeding your customer’s expectations. As such, you should have an idea of what kind of project scope you can reliably meet and not offer them too much more beyond that. This goes for every interaction of the business, too. Don’t promise to get back to them in thirty minutes if you can’t.

Remember who they are

Each customer is an individual. You might think it impossible to keep track of every single person who comes to your website or gets on the phone with you, but modern digital technology has made it easier to track them than ever before. Find a CRM, or customer relationship management software, that helps your team take down details on not just how the customer is and what they want, but every single interaction they have had with your company in the past. That way, the next time they get in touch, you can personalise their experience and, even more importantly, skip the information-finding questions that might not be necessary. You can more quickly get to their concerns, making them feel respected as an individual.

Positivity is crucial

Providing the answers and information that your customers need is one thing, but the tone of the interaction with your service/support departments is just as important as the actual content of it. Your team needs to work with the understanding that customer service isn’t about problem-solving alone or even foremost. The first priority is to help your customers. As such, you can train your team to use positive language, affirming customer concerns while addressing them, and empathising with them to help create the feeling that your customers have someone that is on their side. Of course, to ensure that your team can provide a positive attitude that fuels good customer service interactions, you need to respect and fulfil their needs, as well. If your team isn’t given the care that they need, you can’t expect them to feel good about helping customers, either.

Be careful with what you promise

You want to convert customers and to get them on-side with your business. As such, you will do what you can to negotiate and convince. However, when it comes to client promises, you should always err on the side of promise and avoid overpromising. You want to always be exceeding your customer’s expectations. As such, you should have an idea of what kind of project scope you can reliably meet and not offer them too much more beyond that. This goes for every interaction of the business, too. Don’t promise to get back to them in thirty minutes if you can’t.