Developing Customer Allegiance
Posted 4 months ago at 11:29 AM. Add a comment
The suggestions given below would be valid across industry and any occupation. If you feel that they are too obvious and simple to follow, then I challenge you to take a printout of this page, put it on board by your desk for a week and check whether you are able to conduct your business such that any of the goals mentioned in the document is fulfilled. Is it possible for you to follow all of the things detailed and those that you want your customers to also follow?
The point is if you are expecting loyalty from somebody, you need to first profess it yourself. So get cracking and draw a list of your main customers. For customers who are not in the top grade by ranking, you may go ahead and list down your commitment in pretty general terms so that they are aware they can depend on you when they require your assistance the most. For the top notch customers, you need to be more specific and spell out your commitment and also acknowledge their support. You may have to even sacrifice something you like in order to show this appreciation towards them. Treat that as an investment for the long term success of your relationship.
Keep the lines of communication open
It is important to keep communicating with your customers if you wish to build a sustainable relationship. That means not just hearing them but actively listening to them and also expressing your own thoughts and ideas to them. This communication should not be a monologue. It should be a regular dialogue and must go on even when things are not going very well. Use the situation to bring out the challenge thrown by the situation and how you intend to solve it. If you can do this consistently even before the customer brings them to your attention, then you can expect your customers to trust you and be with you for the long haul.
Of course, when things are going as per plan, you need to keep them posted about the reasons for the success as well. This will infuse confidence and transparency and those are keys to a long term relationship.
Get a grip on what your customer’s objectives are
You need to understand that the services or products you have on offer for your customer are worth their weight only if they are of use to the customer and are in consonance with what they want to achieve. So you need to be continuously aware of the changing dynamics in your customer’s business and provide value through your products or services. This will also ensure that they would not start looking elsewhere.
Exhibit reliability
There is only one way to meet and manage expectations of your customers and that is to show that you can be relied upon through maintenance of your service and product standard. It would also help if you can set up a program or schedule of calling up your key customers to just check with them about the level of service and if they have any suggestions for improvement. This will enable you to get an idea of how the relationship is progressing.
Develop trustworthiness
This is another important activity and you can do this in two ways. Firstly, you need to ensure that you keep to your commitments and that means something as basic as calling up when you have committed that you would call. The other way is to seek time out before providing a response to any query and not just give a top of the head reply as it is possible that you may not always know the right answer. Asking time is not a negative and you can do the necessary research in order to provide your customer an authentic response.
Surprise your customers
Customers like being surprised positively. So just go ahead and do something like thanking them over the phone, sending them a nice email acknowledging their support or even sending a greeting card across to them. You need to build the relationship with such small but thoughtful gestures and should never take your relationship with your customers lightly just because things are going well.
One extremely delightful surprise you can give to your customers or business partners is to treat them to lunch, but in a unique way. Order a lunch bento set to be delivered to their offices! Drop them an email or text message to inform them that lunch has been arranged by you and they can have it in the comfort of their office. Then make sure that the time of delivery matches their schedule and you can imagine the envy on the faces of their colleagues when your customers receive their posh bento sets!