Want to Make Your Building Materials Customers More Loyal? Give Them a Business Plan

Most companies put together a business plan when they get started. Once they’ve shown it to investors, however, it usually gets filed away and forgotten. Instead of following it, the owner just lets the market determine the company’s future.

If you develop a current business plan for your customers, you can help them be more successful and increase their loyalty to you. 

Here are the steps you should take when developing one. 

1. Determine Whether They Are Interested

Let them know you’d like to get a better understanding of their business and find ways to help them be more successful. Tell them you’d like to work out some actionable goals with measurable results that involve both of you.

If they agree, go ahead and get started. If they’re reluctant or not interested, it’s probably better not to waste your time. Focus your energies on a new strategy instead.

2. Ask the Right Questions

You want to get a rough and ready sense of your customer’s situation and the things that concern them the most. 

Ask questions like:

How is your business doing?

What are you hoping to accomplish?

What are your biggest challenges?

Who is your competition?

Why do you think customers prefer you?

Why do you think your competitor’s customers prefer them?

What changes would you like to make?

3. Develop an Action Plan

Work out the details. Be concrete. Set realistic dates and milestones. 

Your customer might have to take the lead on this one, but you should still look for opportunities to be part of the plan. 

Could you offer training to the customer? 

Could you do research on their competitor?

Do you have a marketing program that could help them out?

Find a way to help and you’ll earn your place in the plan. 

4. Follow Up

The reason most business plans fails is that no one is held accountable. When you check in with the customer, you make both of you accountable for holding up your end of the plan.

Even if your customer fails to meet their deadlines, however, you still benefit. By following up, you show an interest in them and show that you take their success seriously. That will win you some loyalty points.