Getting your customers to fall in love with your business or even making them see your presence can be challenging but not impossible. The solution to the problem concerns everything you do and
everything you do not want to do. You must be able to market your business efficiently and make even the little things count about your business. These little things may include the message you give out if you make phone calls or even when you send out an email, give out news related to your business, how you conduct business in a meeting with your clients, the comfort you provide to them, and the relationship you have with your customers and how you maintain that in a long term plan; all that is the part of the message that you give out.
Your business must lie in the hearts and minds of your customers. It is the sum of their experiences, expectations, and their perceptions. To win customers and keep them for life, all you need to do is to present your brand, your company, or your product to them, and you need to make them fall in love with your business. Marketing experts say that you must find out what you can do before designing a strategy. To attract customers to come to you repeatedly and talk about their experiences about your business or brand with their friends in a good way, you need to think like them and what interests them to like or love your company.
Today, we are being bombarded by businesses virtually everywhere, be it in the form of advertising, branding, or interaction with them. It seems like new companies are appearing now and then to make it into a competitive environment. However, to reach the masses and effectively reach out to your target audience, it is increasingly becoming more critical for owners to learn how to build a rewarding relationship with their customers. In short, entrepreneurs today make customers fall in love with their business.
Sometimes, it’s easier said than done, especially when you live in today’s digital world. With the rise of social media, all it takes is one unhappy client or customer to post a negative comment and make it go viral; causing immense damage and bad reputation to the company’s name and profile, not to mention amassing thousands of negative comments and hate in an instant and causing it to spread like wildfire. This is the reason why CEOs and marketers stress the need to keep the customer happy.
After all, there’s a reason why A.G. Lafley, CEO, Procter and Gamble, says that “the customer is the boss.”
Solidifying relationships with your customers should be the focus of every entrepreneur today, and here are some ways you can do just that.
- Interaction and Treatment
Building a genuine relationship with your customers can go a long way for your business and strengthen the trust between you and the customer, which adds value to your business with them. Interact with them and listen to what they are saying; make sure that you are genuinely speaking with them and allowing them to get to know you and the company, and make sure that you are providing a personalized service catered to them.
“We really listened to what our users wanted, both qualitatively listening to the words they say, and quantitatively looking at behavior that they take” – Mark Zuckerberg, Founder, and CEO, Facebook.
- Respecting Your Customers
No one likes to talk to a company representative who is rude and impatient, making you feel as if your query is not of great concern to them. Treating your customers right is one of the key “tactics” that owners are now paying close attention to. Providing positive customer service can increase customer satisfaction and result in positive word-of-mouth publicity (something every business needs).
“If I’d only known that being nice to customers was going to be so good for my business, I would have done it years ago” – Michael O’Leary, CEO, Ryanair
- Incentives and Specials
Who doesn’t like to save a few bucks? Today, offering incentives in the form of special offers, discounts, deals, giveaways, and promotions are seen as treating your customer fairly. Therefore, by offering incentives, sales, and creating special giveaways and sweepstakes, a customer is attracted to your business and believes that it is doing its best for their interest, which means more love for your business.
”We have seen that by giving back to our customers, we end up receiving a return that is tenfold – be it monetary returns or the love and trust that they give to us” – William Smith, CEO, Coupon Buffer
- Be Open and Transparent
No one likes secrets or hidden agendas, and the same applies to the customers. In today’s digital age, being transparent is crucial, especially for new business ventures. By being honest and open, customers can trust you, which leads to satisfaction and love from them. Being transparent here means that business owners are not closed to customer feedback. It means that they have nothing to hide and that customer interaction is welcome.
“I think the currency of leadership is transparency. You’ve got to be truthful” –Howard Schultz, Former CEO of Starbucks
- Feedback
Communication is critical towards gaining the love and trust of a customer. Therefore, communicating with them, keeping them in the loop, and listening to their feedback becomes essential. They take their responsibilities seriously and make the relevant changes, which can lead to greater profits and returns and build a deeper relationship between the customer and the business. This feedback can be taken in the form of a survey, observation, email and web forms, social media interaction, customer service, or focus groups.
“I would define Amazon by our big ideas, which are customer centricity, putting the customer at the center of everything we do.” – Jeff Bezos, Founder, and CEO, Amazon
- The Customer Is Always Right
One thing that owners should do is make customers fall in love with their business by recognizing how big of a role they play in increasing the revenue and returns. Not only that, by acknowledging the role that a customer plays, giving them due credit, and making them feel like an integral part of your venture, which can contribute towards making the customer happy and satisfied. And the more comfortable and happy they are, the more they will fall in love with your business.
“Business is simple. Management’s job is to take care of employees. The employee’s job is to take care of the customers. Happy customers take care of the shareholders. It’s a virtuous circle.” – John Mackey, Founder, and CEO, Whole Foods Market
VERDICT: When trying to build a stronger relationship with your customers, keeping the above-discussed points will enable you to do that. Remember at the end of the day, a customer wants to interact with your business.
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