Cultivating Quality Client Relationships Can Drive New Business
It isn’t easy, but it’s worth it, and technology can help.
One of the best sources of added revenues for your Business is your existing Customer base. It goes far beyond providing them with additional services. Because they know and trust your company, satisfied, happy Customers are a rich source of referrals and testimonials. These are the most powerful tools you can possess when it comes to driving additional sales. As a bonus, you don’t have to launch and pay for a marketing campaign to find these prospects. In a way, they are family and it’s important that you treat them as such.
Creating and maintaining strong client relationships requires effort, and a bit of finesse, on your part. The goal is to be sure your company springs to mind when the need for additional work comes up or a friend asks for advice on a project they are considering. That means keeping in touch with Customers on an ongoing basis, without becoming a pest.
The Right Message in the Right Media at the Right Time
Today, crafting, implementing, and managing an ongoing Customer relationship requires leveraging a variety of media, such as email, direct mail, blogs, social media, and positive PR, to name a few, using these to communicate useful, non-promotional messages to the right Customers at the right time.
Note the term “non-promotional”. These are not sales messages; they should provide useful information based on your knowledge and experience. You may find that creating content is easier than you think. Use your expertise of the Business to create short messages about interesting projects you completed recently, projects to consider based on the time of year, or reminders of required maintenance.
Technology To the Rescue
Once you have some content to work with, you need to deliver it. In years back, prior to digital channels, your company would have a Rolodex filled with 3 x 5 cards. Each time a company representative spoke with a Customer, or sent a mailer, a note would be added to the Rolodex card. Those days and practices are long gone in favor of faster, more efficient communication tracking.
Given the vast number of outlets and the need to match messages to different types of Customers, managing the distribution of your content manually is no longer viable. It’s no surprise that technology has been brought to bear on this modern business challenge. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs are becoming ubiquitous. If you’re not already using cloud or computer-based CRM software, it’s time to assess your needs and find the right solution.