The relationships you build with your customers can go a long way in growing your company and increasing your bottom line. In fact, studies overwhelmingly show that establishing quality relationships increases overall revenue, so if you intend for your company to make more money, you must focus on creating authentic customer relationships. These tips will help.
Fully Understand Your Customers
No two customers are exactly alike, so you can’t try to build a relationship as if they are. When you are establishing a relationship with any customer, you need to fully understand them. You should know at a minimum how their business works, who their competitors are, who their target audience is, what their business model is, their budgetary priorities and constraints, their short- and long-term goals, and the technology they currently use.
This is particularly important if your product or service crosses multiple industries, but even within an industry, companies do things differently. By understanding their operations, you can confidently address their pain points and demonstrate how you can make their job easier. It also helps to get to know the decision makers at your customer companies individually so you can create even deeper connections.
Know Your Customers’ Preferred Communication Channels
Your customers all have preferred ways in which they want to communicate with salespeople. Many of them do not want to get phone calls and if you’re building a relationship, you need to respect that, even if you know your phone pitch is on point. You can ask them if there is a time they would prefer to connect by phone, but if they say they would rather get emails, don’t keep calling them, hoping to wear them down.
Understanding how they want to communicate is vital to developing a trusting relationship. If you ignore their preferences, they aren’t going to trust you when it comes to purchasing a product or service. But, be sure to ask them how they prefer to communicate if there is an urgent matter not related to sales. That way, they know you have their interests in mind when or if something needs immediate attention.
Make Some Exceptions
Certainly, there are some things you can’t accommodate with customers, but if there are times when you can make exceptions to a company policy or rule to help you customers solve a problem, this will go a long way in building a relationship. Your customers will appreciate it when you go out of your way to make an exception for them and will be more willing to show that appreciation by purchasing other features or accepting a different term or condition that is more favorable to you.
In fact, it’s sometimes good to build in places in your sales process where you have some wiggle room to allow your customer to negotiate. When they feel like they’ve gotten their way on something, their loyalty to you increases, making it easier to retain them as customers and upsell them in the future.
Conclusion
Overall, really paying attention to your customers and listening to their needs will naturally build authentic relationships with them. The three tips given here will empower you to do just that.
