DO YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS?
by Emily Huling
Well, of course you care about your customers! At least, you believe you do. How do you show it? If you're like most of the salespeople I ask, caring for your customers generally includes prompt return of phone calls, on-time delivery of high-quality products and services, and courteous, efficient handling of their business needs.
Although it's true that these are imperative for a successful customer relationship, they're merely your customer's basic expectations. To care truly about your customer, consider these deeper approaches, which will add increased value to your business relationship:
- Communicate. Between routine service calls, how are you adding value to your customer relationships? Newsletters are a great way to stay visible, keep customers abreast of what's going in your business, show how your industry can serve them better, and pass on tips for improving their use of your products and services. Sending reprints of articles that are of interest to your customers lets them know you're thinking about issues that apply to them. To keep track of your frequency of customer communication, create a visibility chart. This spreadsheet lists your customers in alphabetical order down the left side and the months of the year across the top. Use it to identify when and what you're doing to communicate regularly with each one.
- Educate. Certainly, sending newsletters and articles of interest are a way to educate your customers. In addition to those methods, consider hosting educational seminars. These are not selling seminars, but sessions to help your customers in their business and personal lives. Topics may relate to human resource development, legal and regulatory matters within a specific industry, or management and leadership challenges. All attendees benefit: your staff by meeting your customers, the customers by gaining new knowledge and networking with their peers, and the seminar leader by enhancing his or her credibility with the guests. This is truly a value-added service in any business relationship.
- Advocate. Become an advocate for your customers. What business can you refer to them? How can you talk them up to people who could be potential customers or suppliers? My best clients in the insurance industry regularly recommend, refer, and connect people, to the benefit of both parties.
- Be a resource. Do your customers think of you as someone who knows people and information that can help them in their business and personal lives? This is where having a strong circle of influence is an advantage. Your resources are peer professionals who can help you handle your customer's needs that are outside of your specific scope of expertise. Attorneys, accountants, bankers, and realtors are wonderful sources of resource information in a community.
So now tell me, do you really care about your customers? You may be providing great customer service, but to really care and differentiate yourself from the competition, be sure to go beyond the expected and communicate, educate, advocate, and act as a resource to your customers.
Emily Huling, CIC, CMC, is president of Selling Strategies, Inc. and consults and teaches sales and customer techniques. She can be reached at 888-309-8802, [email protected].