How To Build Strong Customer Relationships
One of the ways a business builds its brand is to tug at the emotions of their audience. The way a customer and client work together and communicate can build long-lasting, meaningful relationships that turn clients into fans, and fans into clients. You can actually set out to build strong customer relationships by using emotional marketing techniques.
- Show Them That You Know Them
The more research you do into the needs and desires of your target audience, the more your audience will be able to tell that you’re interested in them. When you show interest in them, it will make them interested in your business and you. When you discover something about your audience, let them know through your content and your actions. - Treat Them Right
So many times business owners have sales and special events to get new clients. What about the clients you already have? Keeping them is far more important than getting a new client, and less costly too. Do something special for your existing client base or fan base that shows them that you care about them. Give them a discount, or a special freebie, or something else that attaches them to you in a special way. - Be Transparent and Honest
One way to endear yourself to your audience is to always be transparent and honest. If you make a mistake, own up to it. If you change your views on something, it’s okay to admit it. Doing so will endear you to your audience and make you appear so much more trustworthy to them. - Put People before Numbers
While you do things to help promote your business, it’s important to keep your morals and remember that people are more important than numbers. If you put people first in your business, including yourself, you’ll find that you naturally improve your bottom line. The more people trust you, the more they’ll buy from you. - Be Fun When Appropriate
No one wants to feel as if they’re communicating with a robot or someone who is not real. Be funny when it’s appropriate so that you can show your humanity. Your humanness will shine through when you add some humor and fun to posts, emails, and even sales pages. - Be Responsive
Your customers expect to get an answer when they have a problem, and they expect it to be quickly. Provide many different ways for your audience to contact you. Explain to your audience at each method how long they can expect to wait for a response. Then follow up and do what you said you’d do. - Engage with Your Audience
Find ways to engage with your audience. Ask for their advice or ideas when it comes to a new product or service you’re going to launch. They can help name it, help define what should be in it, and even how much you should charge for it. Your audience can also be your best source of word-of-mouth marketing. - Consider the Communication Format
Also, it’s important to try to get an understanding of how people communicate within their environment. Communication online in chat, instant message, Twitter, or a blog, is far different from communicating on the telephone or in person. Even email is different from other methods of communication. It’s imperative that you determine what is different and then make up for that with the type of communication they’re using.
Building customer relationships that last is part of the goal of emotional marketing. When you’ve formed an attachment with the consumer, they will stick with you for years – through price increases, trials and tribulations, and more. You can’t go wrong with building relationships.
Common Networking Mistakes to Avoid
When it comes to networking, you always want to make sure you do it right so you can grow your business. However, knowing what to do is one thing; knowing what not to do is something else entirely. You might think you’re doing everything right, but if you find you’re not making the connections you expected, then perhaps you have fallen into some of the network traps out there and didn’t even realize you had.
Here are some common networking mistakes and how you can avoid making them in the future.
Not Getting Help
Many people have a hard time asking other for help. Networking is all about making connections, though. People don’t know what you need unless you ask them.
Use whatever personal or professional network you have and ask them to help you. You need to be connected to the right people. The more people you have getting the word out about you, the better, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Not Maintaining Your Relationships
It’s very easy to fall out of touch with people. Maintaining contact with your current network and all of the people in it is going to help you grow.
Follow up with people – your mentors, colleagues, and other contacts – on a regular basis to see how they’re doing. Keep them up to date on you as well. Remember, don’t make it all about you; you will want them to know what you’re up to while also finding out what they’ve been up to.
Not Taking Advantage of Social Media
We live in a day and time where networking is really everything we do every single day. Social media has made it so easy to be connected to so many different people throughout the world, and if you’re not using this then you’re missing out on a great opportunity.
Start using LinkedIn to make professional connections. This isn’t the only social media platform you should be using, but it’s a great place to start and a way to get your name out there.
Not Making In-Person Connections
Yes, we are in a day and time where social media is super-important to networking, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop meeting people in person. You should never do that. You can’t do everything over the internet.
If your online connection is not local to you, then use a multitude of different technologies like Skype which are at your fingertips, to make the world a much smaller place and meet up with people on the other side of it.
Not Being Grateful
Gratitude goes a long way. When someone helps you in whatever way, being grateful will go a long way.
After having a conversation with someone in person or online, send them a quick thank you note for their time. It’s a small thing, but letting people know they are appreciated will go a long way and encourage them to want to speak with you again.
Not Making Sure It’s a Two-Way Street
When someone helps you out and makes a positive connection for you, then you have to be sure that you give back in some way. You especially can’t keep going back and asking for help without giving back in return.
If you can avoid making these common mistakes, then you should be able to create a large and successful network for your business.