Better Brand Value through better Customer Relations

One of the key ingredients for a successful and profitable business is client retention. Sounds clichéd? Yet somehow it's still one of the most overlooked aspects in almost all international markets and businesses. Building lasting relationships with your existing customers is not only an excellent way to set you up for repeat business but also add new members to your brand’s loyal following. Always provided that you have a product or service of great value to offer, nurturing strong customer relationships should be your next point of focus. Besides ethics, integrity, and emotional intelligence, which I personally find must-have traits of every individual (in both their personal and professional life), those aiming to built robust customer relationships must also focus on:

Communication

To enjoy benefits like reduced churn and increased revenue while also opening the way to referral business, it is paramount to invest in exceptional, timely, and efficient communication. This doesn’t mean that you should consume most of your personal time communicating with clients. It simply means to be available when a need arises as it showcases that your customers’ project, views, and satisfaction matter to you. Doing so with zeal and enthusiasm, personality traits people find attractive, will allow you to exude confidence and the kind of energy you want your customers to feel about your work.

Consistency

A McKinsey survey has shown that the companies which deliver consistency across customer journeys enjoy greater customer loyalty. The truth is that the less varied the customer experience, the more effective it is. Being consistent (you and your team members) in the way you interact with your community can contribute to customer retention and engagement, which can, later on, translate into leads and sales.

And, don’t forget that following through on your promises is paramount to standing out in the minds of customers. Falling short of their perceived expectations via inconsistent communication is the worst thing for a relationship. 

Customer Satisfaction

Turning your attention on providing effective customer journeys will help you increase customer satisfaction by 20%, says the same McKinsey research. On top of that, you boost your chances for up to 15% more revenue while dropping the cost of serving customers by up to 20%. So, use the huge amounts of data you have at your disposal to learn new things about the customer and document the journey from a customer’s perspective to identify all the potential touchpoints. Then offer solutions.

Focus Less on Immediate Sale and Pitch

Many business owners and salespeople believe that they need to meet their sales quotas by pitching the service or product. Although there is nothing wrong with that approach, it is often done long before the customer is ready to make a purchase. Plus, to the clients, it feels uncaring and definitely pushy. Building long-term relationships with customers and leads requires leaving out the short-term pitch and sale. Take your time and show that you truly care about solving their problems and attending to their needs first. Be open and transparent about what you do and what you offer to help your customers feel confident in your skills and expertise (and what you do). Then, sales will come.

Build Emotional Connections

Emotional consistency is another crucial factor affecting customer satisfaction and driving loyalty. Your customers should feel good about your business continually – they must feel close to your brand over time. A Harvard Business Review research argues that customers who are emotionally attached to a company are 25-100% more valuable than highly satisfied clients, profit and revenue-wise. So, the deeper sense of attachment your customers feel to your brand, the more emotionally connected they are to it.

To inspire that kind of lasting connection, you need to:

1.      Identify a customer’s emotional motivators.

2.      Weigh how a business decision could weaken or fortify their experience.

3.      Work on creating a brand that aligns with the emotional satisfaction, needs, and values of customers while genuinely following through in the quality of the offered experience and product.

Other ways to build better customer relationships:

• Share knowledge with customers to make them feel in-the-loop.
• Maintain a policy of openness (regarding your professional viewpoints about the best interests of a project) so that you nurture trust and enable customers to rely on you as an expert.
• Promise realistic results and set reasonable expectations – never oversell yourself. If you find the opportunity to go the extra mile to please your clients, then, by all means, do so.
• Ensure your customers’ needs are met by maintaining an employee policy that involves timely follow-up.

Without a doubt, the relationship you have with your customers is a leading differentiator with your competitors. Making sure customers are kept satisfied increases their lifetime value, helps reduce churn and market rejection, and indicates loyalty and repurchase functions. Plus, we all know that it is much more affordable to retain a customer than try to find a new one. All that combined make building strong relationships with customers the heartbeat of the business and a prerequisite for business growth and success.