All of your selling success today, and for the rest of your career, is and will be based on the quality of the relationship that you form with your customers... -Brian Tracy
Friends do you realize that when you want to get in touch with some old customer it is much easier to get an appointment in comparison to you when you are trying to fix up a meeting with a new prospect?
Yes this is 100{2facf265810d5c64deca339a00197305ceb917dadef902f2426694cb75f36e2b} true and I am sure you also would have experienced that doing business with some existing customer is far easier and cost-effective in comparison to a new customer. But you can get the business of the existing customers only if you have been mentioning and nurturing your relationship with them.
Based on thirty years of my experience in the industry, there are lots of salespeople and business owners who you almost forget their old customers. For most customers the relationship comes first. More than twenty years of the research conducted by Neil Rackham Huthwaite Associates, by interviewing more than 55,000 customers before and after the sale or no-sale, it has been found that the relationship is the most important element in making a sale.
Based on this research there are four stages of high quality selling. The first stage calls for spending 40{2facf265810d5c64deca339a00197305ceb917dadef902f2426694cb75f36e2b} of the time in -development of trust. This is done by building a rapport i.e. by staying in contact even beyond the sale, developing a genuine human connect by empathizing to his situation and providing him with honest and accurate information.
30{2facf265810d5c64deca339a00197305ceb917dadef902f2426694cb75f36e2b} of the selling process involves time assessment on identifying the true needs and wants of the prospect. In place of telling him about your product and trying to push him for the sale, you ask the appropriate questions to understand the customers’ needs and wants and pains and desires and attentively listening to his reply.
20{2facf265810d5c64deca339a00197305ceb917dadef902f2426694cb75f36e2b} of the time is spent on presenting the solution. At this stage you show the prospect and describe with pristine clarity how he can be better off after buying your product and service.
Finally, 10{2facf265810d5c64deca339a00197305ceb917dadef902f2426694cb75f36e2b} time is for confirmation from the prospect that your offer matches his needs. You ask the prospect to make the decision and take action on your operating. This is when you close the deal.
A strong relationship with the customer improves their overall lifetime value. A strong relationship with the customer brings them back again and again. They remain loyal to the business for a long time and continue to remain a constant source of revenue. During this time you can benefit with lots of new business and referrals from your existing customers.
The best salespeople are the “relationship experts”. They focus all of their attention on relationship before they begin talking about their product.
Now let me share with you what you can do to maintain your relationship with your customer even after the sale-
1. Engagement program: After the sales you must create a program to keep engaged with the customer. For this purpose lots of businesses have their coupons system implemented. They keep offering the discount on future sales. For this customer keeps coming back to them. Create some incentive or reward system for your customers for their continued business. Keep inviting them time to time and keep your promises. You can also keep them engaged by email messaging and social media posts. But discounts are one of the most effective engagement programs.
2. Keep and maintain Personal Contact: This is by far the best way of keeping the customers in the best possible relationship. When you or your team keeps in touch with customers personally they get to know the values of your brand. If they visit your showroom and you personally attend them and recognize them they feel good about it. You can invite the customers to your office, to your factory or to your showroom. Use experiential marketing techniques for maintaining relationships with your customers.
3. Make them feel special: All customers want to feel special. They all like special, personal attention. No customer wants to feel as though he is just a listing item in the database. This is one benefit that small businesses have over much larger corporations. The birthday and anniversary wishes, bouquets and gifts really do very well. Even a personal letter or a personal phone call can also work wonders. You can sometimes invite them for a cup of coffee or for dining out.
4. Resolve all their complaints and queries: This the most important way of keeping an excellent relationship with the customer. If this is not followed, rest all losses its effect. When a product or any service is sold there is also a possibility of some type of complaints or queries. Therefore it is important to keep addressing all the complaints and queries of customers. This not only keeps them in good faith but also keeps a strong relationship with the business.
5. Communicate with your customers frequently, be approachable: Strong relationships need frequent communication. Do your customers know that they can reach you easily for the product they need? Do they also know that how can you be reached? Let your customer know the channel of their communication to you, whether you can be reached through email or telephone or through a whatsapp message. Keep communicating time to time about the new developments in your business, for example the new product launch, upcoming exhibitions, some big customer / projects acquired. But communication is a two-way street therefore also be available for when your customer reaches out to you!
6. Implement the customer feedback system: A customer feedback system is a very good way of keeping in contact with the existing customers. The customer feedback not only keeps you connected to the customers proactively but also keeps giving you new ideas for improving your customer services. This is helpful in generation of future business opportunities. After receiving the customer feedback you can also send them a thank you letter. If they are giving some suggestions for improvement you can also reciprocate by giving them some small reward. You can also give them some coupons that could be utilized on their next purchase. An effective feedback system actually keeps the customer engaged and loyal for long time.
Friends my mission is to empower more than 1 lakh business owners and sales people in coming 3 years by providing them the quality and affordable business growth and sales tools. You can also become part of our campaign buy circulating this article to all your business friends.
I am confident that if you use the above 6 ways of building long term relationship with the customer you will be able to create a big database of satisfied and loyal customers for long time. Hope you have found this article useful at interesting.
Happy Selling!
