The Secret to Building Good Customer Relationships

by Trevor Marshall

Published on this site: September 26th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

While it may be your first reaction to make new sales or pursue bigger clients, the truth of the matter is that you should be paying attention to your existing customers as well. The secret to getting sustainable repeat business is to follow up with every customer, and an effective follow-up begins immediately after the sale. You should give the customer 24 to 48 hours and then phone them up just to say thank you and find out if they are pleased with what they purchased.

1. Educate Customers
   
   Intentionally make a habit of pointing out to customers what excellent service you provide. Failing to constantly and repeatedly get in your customers face highlighting your over-the-top service is equivalent to losing customers. If you want to talk with customers in store, be sure to use a newsletter. It is a good idea to have an online newsletter as well.
   
   
2. Keep it personal
   
   Instead of sending an e-mail, send a handwritten letter. Or at least follow up and leave them a voice message. Failure to be in constant communication is equivalent with the customer percieving that they aren't getting any additional service at all.
   
   
3. Be Aggressive About Collecting Data
   
   If you need to collect data, be aggressive about it. Most people won't want to take even a moment of their day out to tell you about your business. Keep things simple and short - ratings should be out of 5 or 10 and never require a written response. The total time needed to do the survey should be under 30 seconds. You should give incentives to the customer such as a chance to win $1,000.
   
   
4. CRM in Business
   
   The use of internet sites and specifically e-mail, in particular, are often touted as less expensive communication methods in comparison to traditional ones such as telephone calls. These types of technologies service can be very helpful, but it is completely useless to a business that cannot reach its customers. Some major companies believe that the majority of their clients trust other means of communication, like
   telephone, more than they trust e-mail. Clients, however, are usually not the ones to blame because it is often the manner of connecting with consumers on a personal level making them feel as though they are cherished as customers. It is up to companies to focus on reaching every customer and developing a relationship.

It is possible for CRM software to run an entire business. From prospect and client contact tools to billing history and bulk email management. The CRM system allows a business to maintain all customer records in one centralized location that is accessible to an entire organization through password administration. Front office systems are set up to collect data from the customers for processing into the data warehouse. The data warehouse is a back office system used to fulfill and support customer orders. All customer information is stored in the data warehouse. Back office CRM makes it possible for a company to follow sales, orders, and cancellations. Special regressions of this data can be very beneficial for the marketing division of a firm/company.

Trevor Marshall: For more great customer related articles and resources check out http://makemoneycentral.info