Business relationships are the lifeblood of any successful small business. There is no alternative to building and nurturing those relationships: they make it possible to sell our goods and services, respond to potential customer requests and build customer loyalty.
Every day, make an attempt to build on the relationships you have with your customer. Don’t just say hi as they walk in and goodbye as they leave.
The last thing you want to do is make your customer feel like a statistic.
Let them know that their business with you is appreciated. Talk to them, strike up a non-business conversation with them. It could involve just about anything, such as the weather, sports, a movie, pets, etc.
Non-business conversation puts your customer at ease and gets them talking. The more they talk to you, the more they will open up to you, opening the door for more sales opportunities.
Or, you can keep it simple. For starters, get to know you customers by name. Say things such as, “how’s it going today?” Or “how was your weekend?” Or “is there anything I can help you with today?” Make your presence known and felt.
Your customer wants to be appreciated, so take a few minutes of your time to show them that you care about them as a customer.
Relationship building remains an indispensable skill for business people, for the simple reason that without a relationship of some kind (even a contentious one) you can’t do business at all.
Relationship building is a process. It must be part of your on-going work as a business person, not something you do once or twice and then expect to coast along happily ever after.
There are many reasons to build a strong relationship with your customer, but two of the reasons remain to be key.
One main reason is that customers value and appreciate good customer service. They want the piece of mind of knowing that if something ever happened with their product or service, that they would have you to turn to as their go to person.
This is extremely important because your customer will have this in mind when your competition moves in to take them away.
And believe me, your competition will try to take them away. As long as you provide excellent customer service, your customer will stick with you.
There is no substitute for excellent customer service.
Customer service is the most important thing to a customer, even more important than fees’.
The second reason building relationships are so important is because of the referral process.
A customer that is treated with respect and provided excellent customer service will most assuredly refer their family and friends to you. Why wouldn’t they?
Your most important asset is your customer, so build and strengthen the foundations you have with them. By building strong relationships, you will be building your sales.