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For marketing, promoting and PR corporations, the relationships built between the company and its customers are crucial to driving repeat business, sustainable growth and positive word of mouth. Maintaining these vital relationships is becoming increasingly difficult in an extremely competitive market where customers expect greater engagement, lower costs and higher quality products and services.
The excellent news is that maintaining strong customer relationships promotes high retention rates and higher revenues. One study found that customers who form a strong emotional bond with a brand have: 300% higher lifetime value compared to consumers who failed to build relationships. It’s vital for agency leaders to have a strategy for building and supporting strong, long-term client relationships.
1. Set clear expectations and keep your guarantees
One of the best ways to build relationships with customers is to consistently provide the highest quality products and services. But achieving this starts at the starting of the relationship, by setting clear expectations about what to expect. Being transparent about the intended consequence, implementation time frames, and communication helps avoid the frustration that may result from misunderstandings or inappropriate expectations.
It is especially vital for recent businesses to impress potential customers. Unfortunately, too many corporations make big guarantees that they can’t effectively deliver. By promising too much, you expose the customer to potential disappointment. Instead, at all times offer realistic expectations with the intention of over-delivering. A customer will probably be impressed when you manage to complete a marketing campaign in three weeks, although you originally expected it to be 25 business days. You might even throw in an unexpected freebie or perk they weren’t expecting. By at all times keeping your guarantees and delivering more when possible, you’ll build a relationship based on trust and be recognized as a reliable business partner.
2. Focus on creating value first
Selling services is an vital element of accelerating your organization’s revenues. However, focusing solely on what you’ll be able to get from your customers can sabotage your ability to build strong relationships with your customers. Instead, focus on providing value to them first. This starts long before the first contract is signed. When customers immediately see tangible value and advantages from working with your organization, they are more likely to reciprocate by remaining loyal customers of your organization.
3. Communication, communication, communication
Maintaining ongoing relationships with your customers requires regular contact, even if they are not ready to buy from you again. The problem is that many corporations only focus on engaging with customers when they need to make a recent sale. This is not an effective way to build strong relationships with your customers because it might probably feel such as you only care about them if they have something you wish (i.e. their money).
Taking the time to check in with your customers usually is a smart way to maintain strong relationships. It also helps eliminate the tension and defensiveness that arises when every contact becomes a sales pitch. These could possibly be in-person meetings, phone calls, or even a easy email.
It is vital to understand that no two customers are the same. Finding ways to tailor your communications to their preferences and needs gives your customer confidence that you just understand their needs, challenges and goals.
4. Admit your mistakes
From time to time, your agency will make a mistake or upset a client. It’s inevitable. You’ll miss a deadline, submit an ad that ought to never have made it through the QA process, or quit altogether. How your organization responds to these issues can make a huge difference in the eyes of your customers. Admitting you made a mistake, being transparent about what happened, and proactively working on a solution lets them know you care about solving the problem.
Delivering difficult news or difficult discussions is never easy. By demonstrating a willingness to tackle challenges head-on and find win-win solutions, you’ll strengthen your customer relationships and ensure long-term success.
5. Learn from mistakes through continuous improvement
Sometimes you’ll lose customers regardless of what your corporation does. This may be painful, especially if it’s a large client that generates a significant slice of your revenue. While customer retention is the goal, there is a silver lining to customer churn. While it might be frustrating, at all times try to part ways on good terms. You never know when they could resolve to come back to your organization. A very good way to achieve this is to offer them some type of value on exit. For example, if you run a digital marketing company, you show good faith by supporting their move to the next agency.
Additionally, taking the time to understand why they leave can highlight opportunities for improvement. Over time, taking motion on these insights can significantly strengthen your processes and make sure you avoid any obstacles to building and maintaining long-term customer relationships.
Acquiring recent customers is not only difficult, but also expensive. It is much simpler to spend time retaining customers. By building strong relationships with customers, entrepreneurs can protect their revenues and position their corporations to grow and succeed despite operating in the competitive world of promoting, promoting and PR.