linkB2B
21-04-11, 04:49 PM
Is having a great product or service the only thing you have to do in order to be a successful business owner or salesperson? No, it is not. Although it is important to have an awesome item or service, you will not succeed if this is the only thing you do right.
If you own your own business or work in sales, you have to make a great connection with your customers. You will learn 6 ideas for building a relationship with your customers.
1) Acknowledge Brand Mentions
Facebook fanpages and Twitter profiles are very popular places for people to mention brands that they enjoy as well as ecommerce sites where they purchase products. If you are a small online company, then you should do whatever it takes to acknowledge people who give positive praise to your brand or products. If you sell dresses online and someone compliments you on Twitter about the quality of the dress, then let them know as soon as possible how much you appreciate the kind words and feedback. Showing a customer that you care and pay attention to what people think of your ecommerce site will go a long way to build loyalty and trust.
2) Keep Customers Updated and Engaged
Having a conversation with your customers on Facebook and Twitter is essential to building trust and loyalty, so that they continue to shop at your ecommerce site and recommend it to friends and family. The best way to keep the conversation going is to make sure that customers are always up to speed with everything going on at your ecommerce site. You acquire new customers almost every day, so therefore they might not be aware of your commitment to customer service. Update Facebook and Twitter on occasion asking customers if they have any questions or concerns about your store. Someone may not feel comfortable complaining about an order and just prefer to go shop elsewhere, but if you keep the communication open, then they will be more likely to let you know what they think. This feedback can go a long way toward improving your ecommerce business and building rapport with customers, which will keep them coming back to shop.
Not only do you want to keep customers updated, you want to keep them engaged with your ecommerce site. There are a variety of ways to do this via Facebook and Twitter, but the best ways are via promotions, contests and viral marketing. Get involved with your interactive advertising and try a viral video contest where customers submit ads for your ecommerce site. In terms of promotions and contests, try and rotate these throughout the year so customers have a reason to keep coming back.
3) Give Them More Than They Expect
Customers become cynical at times when they have too many disappointing experiences with businesses. Often the advertised levels of service and value in no way resemble the goods and services that are actually received. It does not take a lot of time, effort or money to provide a better than average experience for your customers. Having great products and services, recruiting knowledgeable and helpful customer service staff and throwing in a bonus or two with each sale are some of the ways to give customers much more than they are used to receiving. Asking your staff for their feedback on customer wants and needs can also provide ideas for helping customers in new and continuously improving ways.
4) Give Your Customers Reason to Trust You
All relationships are based on some level of trust. Most people would prefer to deal with a company that has a reputation for reliability. Earning a customer’s trust is not difficult: just listen to the customer’s needs, do what you say you are going to do and be available and interested whenever they have a problem. Trust and loyalty naturally follow when customers continue to have good experiences when dealing with a particular business.
5) Know What the Customer Wants Before They Do
Keeping abreast with all new developments in your industry and knowing your customers enables you to easily match their needs with any new products and services that emerge which may be relevant to them. As Zig Ziglar once said: "You can get anything in life you want if you help enough people get what they want." So help your customers to get what they want, even before they know it is available. You then become a partner in their life or business in the sense that you have created a “team” environment by being interested and involved in their success.
6) Share Positive Feedback and Testimonials
Sharing real testimonials is a great way to build trust and loyalty among customers via Twitter and Facebook. It is best to have a section on your ecommerce site dedicated to customer testimonials, and then you can direct people to them via Facebook and Twitter. Not only is it a great way to drive traffic to your site, but will increase confidence so that customers come back to purchase more often. You can also use Twitter and Facebook to solicit testimonials, by asking what the experience was like for customers of your ecommerce site. Testimonials do not have to all look the same, you may get video from a customer who loved shopping at your site or an actual written letter you can scan and put on the site. A unique and frequently updated section for testimonials is a smart way to stand out among your competition, and help further customer trust and loyalty.
Building relationships with customers can only benefit a business in the good times and the bad. Everyone wants to deal with people that they like and respect. It therefore makes a lot of sense for a business to develop positive relationships with its customers in order to be able to understand and service their needs in the best possible way.
If you own your own business or work in sales, you have to make a great connection with your customers. You will learn 6 ideas for building a relationship with your customers.
1) Acknowledge Brand Mentions
Facebook fanpages and Twitter profiles are very popular places for people to mention brands that they enjoy as well as ecommerce sites where they purchase products. If you are a small online company, then you should do whatever it takes to acknowledge people who give positive praise to your brand or products. If you sell dresses online and someone compliments you on Twitter about the quality of the dress, then let them know as soon as possible how much you appreciate the kind words and feedback. Showing a customer that you care and pay attention to what people think of your ecommerce site will go a long way to build loyalty and trust.
2) Keep Customers Updated and Engaged
Having a conversation with your customers on Facebook and Twitter is essential to building trust and loyalty, so that they continue to shop at your ecommerce site and recommend it to friends and family. The best way to keep the conversation going is to make sure that customers are always up to speed with everything going on at your ecommerce site. You acquire new customers almost every day, so therefore they might not be aware of your commitment to customer service. Update Facebook and Twitter on occasion asking customers if they have any questions or concerns about your store. Someone may not feel comfortable complaining about an order and just prefer to go shop elsewhere, but if you keep the communication open, then they will be more likely to let you know what they think. This feedback can go a long way toward improving your ecommerce business and building rapport with customers, which will keep them coming back to shop.
Not only do you want to keep customers updated, you want to keep them engaged with your ecommerce site. There are a variety of ways to do this via Facebook and Twitter, but the best ways are via promotions, contests and viral marketing. Get involved with your interactive advertising and try a viral video contest where customers submit ads for your ecommerce site. In terms of promotions and contests, try and rotate these throughout the year so customers have a reason to keep coming back.
3) Give Them More Than They Expect
Customers become cynical at times when they have too many disappointing experiences with businesses. Often the advertised levels of service and value in no way resemble the goods and services that are actually received. It does not take a lot of time, effort or money to provide a better than average experience for your customers. Having great products and services, recruiting knowledgeable and helpful customer service staff and throwing in a bonus or two with each sale are some of the ways to give customers much more than they are used to receiving. Asking your staff for their feedback on customer wants and needs can also provide ideas for helping customers in new and continuously improving ways.
4) Give Your Customers Reason to Trust You
All relationships are based on some level of trust. Most people would prefer to deal with a company that has a reputation for reliability. Earning a customer’s trust is not difficult: just listen to the customer’s needs, do what you say you are going to do and be available and interested whenever they have a problem. Trust and loyalty naturally follow when customers continue to have good experiences when dealing with a particular business.
5) Know What the Customer Wants Before They Do
Keeping abreast with all new developments in your industry and knowing your customers enables you to easily match their needs with any new products and services that emerge which may be relevant to them. As Zig Ziglar once said: "You can get anything in life you want if you help enough people get what they want." So help your customers to get what they want, even before they know it is available. You then become a partner in their life or business in the sense that you have created a “team” environment by being interested and involved in their success.
6) Share Positive Feedback and Testimonials
Sharing real testimonials is a great way to build trust and loyalty among customers via Twitter and Facebook. It is best to have a section on your ecommerce site dedicated to customer testimonials, and then you can direct people to them via Facebook and Twitter. Not only is it a great way to drive traffic to your site, but will increase confidence so that customers come back to purchase more often. You can also use Twitter and Facebook to solicit testimonials, by asking what the experience was like for customers of your ecommerce site. Testimonials do not have to all look the same, you may get video from a customer who loved shopping at your site or an actual written letter you can scan and put on the site. A unique and frequently updated section for testimonials is a smart way to stand out among your competition, and help further customer trust and loyalty.
Building relationships with customers can only benefit a business in the good times and the bad. Everyone wants to deal with people that they like and respect. It therefore makes a lot of sense for a business to develop positive relationships with its customers in order to be able to understand and service their needs in the best possible way.