Building Customer Relationships

Why is building customer relationships important? Does it influence consumer behavior? Read on to know the importance of building customer relationships and challenges an organization can face while building customer relationships.

Building customer relationships is very important in today's developed market where product, price and quality are roughly comparable. Market research has shown that consumers put their money on organizations which they feel 'care' for them. Let us see some of the ways which can help an organization in building customer relationships. Importance of Building Customer Relationships "Although your customers won't love you if you give bad service, your competitors will". We all know that a customer's satisfaction or happiness makes or breaks an organization. This is one of the reasons all the management gurus focus on building customer relationships. Often companies feel that the customer left them because the competitor was providing them a better price for the product, but studies have shown that customers leave because they think that their current company hardly cares for them. If you stay in touch with a customer through phone calls, e-mails, newsletters, etc., without selling them anything, you are telling them indirectly that 'I care for you' and when the time comes to buy something from the market, chances are that the customer will buy something from you to reciprocate the gesture. Having an effective customer relationship helps in people-to-people marketing. Let us take an example to illustrate this. Let us suppose that Mr. Smith is contemplating buying a contract mobile connection and he needs to decide whether he should choose company A or B. Mr. Smith watches a 60 second commercial in which the biggest Hollywood 'A lister' is endorsing company A. Hmm Mr. Smith is impressed, seems like the millions of dollars company A spent on advertising is helping it gain new customers. But in the evening, Mr. Smith meets one of his old pals who doesn't know a thing about technology. All he knows is that he has been with company B for the last 5 years and the guys out there have been absolutely amazing. His issues have been taken care of in the first complaint itself and guess what, they even sent him a bouquet on his birthday. There is a high possibility that Mr. Smith will go for product B. The reason for that being that company B has an excellent customer relationship management through customer service, discounts etc. This is what good customer relationships do for a company. People aren't impressed with what you say about yourself, they are impressed with what other people say

about you. Building Customer Relationships

Personalize the Relationship. One of the golden rules of business is "customers don't buy products, they buy you". Be helpful to anyone entering your store/office. Always greet them with a smile. This encourages them and helps in setting a positive vibe between you and the customer. If you are contacting your customer over the phone, always ask if it is the right time to talk. Always start the conversation with a general topic and then gradually move to the main purpose of the call. Remembering a customer's preferences also helps as the customer gets the feeling that this person knows a thing or two about me which in turn increases the chances of a sale. Take Feedback. After the customer has bought your product, make it a point to call him up and ask him how did he find the product. You can make it a point to call them every month. Listen to their suggestions and feedbacks carefully, because most of the times the suggestions/ feedbacks are the unwanted needs of the customer which if not met, can make the customer leave you for your competitors. Keep your Word. Always keep your word as there is nothing more upsetting for a customer than a failed promise. If there is a delay in the shipment of the product, first thing to do is inform the customer. This is much better than the customer taking the day off from work, waiting for the product to come and then coming to know that there is a delay. Chances are customer will be frustrated and yell 'cancel the whole thing altogether, I don't wanna order it'. Instead, call the customer beforehand and apologize for the inconvenience, but do let him the cause for the delay. Customers do really appreciate that. Appreciate their Loyalty. Sometimes words are not enough to make a customer believe that you are really there for him. If the customer has been buying products from you, it is time you offer him discount coupons, membership plans etc. This helps in building a strong image of your company in the minds of consumers. And nothing brings more smile on the faces of customers rather than the thought of paying only half the price for the product! Innovate. Building customer relationships through effective marketing also helps in keeping your customers wellinformed. The marketing strategies have changed with the advent of various social networking sites and blogs. Therefore, it is essential for an organization to adapt to these changes to progress in the competitive market.

Challenges in Building Customer Relationships One can't deny the fact that every theory, every idea faces some challenges when it is implemented. Let us take a look at some of the challenges an organization may face while building customer relationships.

Lack of Commitment. The organizations can lay down the structure and the policies to build relationships with customers, but employees are the ones who have to execute the policies. If employees are holistic towards a customer friendly approach, then there is little scope for the organization to build a customer friendly environment. Poor Communication. It is very important to get the message across to the customers in a proper way. For example, if the product the customer is asking for is out of stock, then the employee needs to be apologetic to the customer and can give an approximate time-frame by which the product is expected to be back in stock. Being insensitive to customer's emotions drives them away. Weak Leadership. If the leader is skeptic about the benefits of a customer-focused plan, it is unwise to expect that the employees will carry it out in the desired fashion. The leader should follow with an example. An effective leadership can really turn things around in the favor of an organization.

Building customer relationship is essential for the long term interest of an organization. In fact, businesses today have changed the buyer-seller equation and organizations are focusing more on building customer relationships and partnerships. With all these new customer focused policies, customers surely are going to feel like 'kings'. As Jeff Bezos says, "We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better".

By Rahul Pandita

Customer Relationship Management - CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business strategy to select and manage most valuable customer relations. One of the challenges faced by the successful business is to acquire customer satisfaction and developing Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business strategy to select and manage most valuable customer relations. Customers are the most valuable resource and heart of the business. The process of using and developing strategies based on customer information is called Customer Relationship Management. The ability to access the customers can determine how well you understand and use this resource in the business goals and strategies. Business strategy is the proper application of the information which use the resources in the most efficient and economical manner. It is customer-centric business strategy with the goal of maximizing profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction. One of the challenges faced by the successful business is to acquire customer satisfaction and developing Customer Relationship Management. While recruiting employees to give customer service there is tendency to concentrate more on functional expertise, technical competence and knowledge rather than interpersonal or communication skills. Client satisfaction levels have a reverse effect because of lack of right attitude. In todays competitive world it has become more important to maintain rich and fruitful relationships. Customer Relationship Management is a corporate level strategy focusing on creating and maintaining relationships with customers. CRM is a term not only used by the business organizations but also in any type of organizations to create a beneficial environment among the customers. This is a business approach that combines people, processes and technology to maximize the relation of an organization with all types of customers. It helps in understanding the customer better and according to the needs of the customer; the organization can effectively customize their products and services in order to retain the customers and also to increase customers loyalty and satisfaction. Customer relationship management is a path to identify, acquire and retain customers who are the business greatest assets. CRM get the value out of customers by highly integrating sales, marketing and support efforts. By providing the means to manage and coordinate customer interactions, CRM technology helps companies to maximize the value of every customer interaction and in turn drive improved corporate performance. CRM software application can enable effective CRM provided that an enterprise has the right leadership, strategy and culture. Commerce-enabled Customer relationship management applications help the organizations to interact with customers through all media and channels. CRM products and services manage every point of contact with the customer to ensure that each customer gets the appropriate level of service and no sales opportunities are lost. An organization can improve the business processes and technology solutions around selling, marketing and service functions across all customer touch-point by implementing Customer Relationship Management strategy. CRM is a four step process which implementing customer-centered strategies, which drives redefining of functional roles, which demands re-engineering work processes, which is supported and not

driven by CRM technology. Customer Relationship Management consists of (1)To help an enterprise to enable its marketing department to identify and target their best customer and to manage marketing campaigns with clear goal and objectives, and to generate quality leads for the sales team. (2)To assist the organization to improve telesales, account and sales management by optimizing information shared by different employees and streamlining the existing processes. (3)To allow the formation of individualized relationships with customers, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction and maximizing profit. (4)To provide employees with the information and processes necessary to know their customers need and build relation between the company and the customer. The Three Types of CRM Operational CRM which provides support to front office, business processes including sales, marketing and service. Analytical CRM which analyses the customer data for various purposes such as design and execution of targeted marketing campaigns to optimize marketing effectiveness, design and execution of specific customer campaign, analysis of customer behavior to aid product and service decision making, management decision, prediction of probability of customer defection. Collaborative CRM is to coordinate the multi-channel service and support given to the customer by providing the infrastructure for responsive and effective support to customer issues, questions and complaints.

By Jayashree Pakhare

Business Relationships
Making and maintaining business relationships, also known as networking, is good for generating business in the form of long term contracts. Good business relationships help in building trust, a very essential commodity, when doing any successful business dealing. The articles presented below explain business relationships in detail. Ways to Build Business Relationships Building and maintaining business relationships is essential for better business leads. While some are charismatic enough to do so naturally, others need to master the art gradually. Either way, it is

not an impossible task and can be done easily if you follow the laid down rules of building these relationships. The following article will throw light on a few ways to build business relationships. How to Build Business Relationships Business relationships and their importance is known by most businessmen today. More than often we come across people who are brilliant with their business relationships and are known for the reach they hold in the market. If you want to know how it's done, read this article on how to build business relationships and you might be able to do the same. Building Business Relationships To achieve success in a business, capital and human resources are vital. However, managers of businesses have to work upon building business relationships that are strong. More information about the same strategies has been presented further.

Building Customer Relations by Listening

Improving service at a small business starts with communication. Ask employees and clients what's working and what's not
by Karen E. Klein

Small Business

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Customer service is one area where small companies can outshine their competitors and cultivate intense loyalty among regular customers. But exceptional customer service goes beyond mere politeness into nuanced relationship building. Diane Berenbaum, senior vice-president of Communico, a Westport (Conn.) customer service consultancy, has just written How to Talk to Customers (Jossey-Bass, 2007) with her colleague Tom Larkin. She spoke recently to Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein about what makes a great impression on a customer and where some small-business owners miss chances to wow their clients. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow. Why is customer relations so important, particularly for small companies? Service is a real differentiator, no matter the size of the organization. Small companies particularly need to differentiate themselves because they don't have the advertising and exposure that larger firms do. One of the best ways to differentiate in your relationships with customers is to focus more on listening than on talking. Companies sometimes are so anxious to sell their services that they do way too much talking. The only way you can meet or exceed customer needs is really listeningnot just to what they're telling you, but to get beyond that and understand their unstated needs. Once you do that, not only will you have a better connection, you'll be able to exceed their expectations. When people feel listened to, valued, and important to a company, it's rare. That's because great service and effective communication are more than a set of skills. It's a mind-set of respect and accountability where you do what you say you're going to do for the customer. If every associate in your firm models that mind-set, you'll create a great experience for everyone. Is excellent customer service really that rare? Yes, it really is. Despite the fact that many companies tout their focus on service in advertising, the research we did showed that overall customer satisfaction is declining. A global benchmarking study we looked at showed a reduction in customer service satisfaction from 82% to 68% in the last year alone. Additional studies show that 68% of customers leave a business relationship because of a perceived attitude of indifference on the part of the company. It's not that the associates are actually indifferentit's the perception that they are. So a customer may get what she needs from the company, but if it was delivered with indifference, that interaction still won't leave a positive impression. Similarly, 63% of consumers said the last time they stopped doing business with a company it was partly or wholly due to a poor customer service experience. Another very similar study showed that two out of three consumers said they'd stop buying from a company if they had just one bad customer service experience. Those are dramatic numbers. What accounts for them? One factor is that customers are not as easily satisfied as they used to be. They have much higher expectations for service as they face far greater demands in their own lives. Another factor is that companies themselves aren't quite sure how to deliver great service. They think they're doing

enough by talking about it in a company policy manual or telling their associates to do it. But you can't just put it in a document and assume it's going to get done. What constitutes excellent servicehow do you measure it? Customers want to feel they have a relationship with a firm. They want to make a connection and feel important. If a customer brings up a complaint, how is it handled? Is your company representative spouting information, citing policies and proceduresor is he genuinely interested in helping? Just listening to a complaint, instead of cutting it off, will increase the chances of maintaining that customer's loyalty. Some entrepreneurs don't realize they need to make connections with their clients, and that they need to do that with courtesy, empathy, and professionalism.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer Relationship Management or CRM is a business strategy to devised to manage and retain the most valued customers of your company. Customer is the king and company cannot give in. Find out how you can bring about a reconciliation between the two to maximize your profits. Building Customer Relationships Why is building customer relationships important? Does it influence consumer behavior? Read on to know the importance of building customer relationships and challenges an organization can face while building customer relationships Account Manager Salary How to Become an Account Manager If you are eying for a career in account management, knowing how to become an account manager can help you to plan well in advance and create better opportunities for yourself in this field. What is Key Account Management Every business organization has a few customers that are of greater value to them than others. Simply put, key account management is the process of ensuring that these customers are satisfied and stay loyal to the company. Account Management Skills This article will give you an overview of what account management is, and the skills required to be a successful account manager. Customer Appreciation Gifts If you own a business you know the importance of retaining a customer. One of the wa

Top 7 Steps to Building a Profitable Customer Relationship

By Colleen Francis

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Success in sales depends directly on your ability to make yourself likeable, and create a positive experience for your customers. The following 7 Tips are some of the best - and easiest - ways I know to help you create a more positive customer experience:
1. Love what you sell, the company you work for and the customers you serve.
If you are truly passionate about these three things, your willingness to help your customers solve their problems will shine through. Customers will believe your sincerity and be captivated by your excitement. In short - you will be fun to work with. Our studies show that customers prefer to buy from sales people who overtly show that they believe in the products they sell, and the companies they work for. Choose to be honest, open and empathetic to your customers' needs, and you will experience consistent sales growth, build an excellent reputation and become one of the top performers in your field.

2. Be empathetic and compassionate.

Truly care about your customers, and remember that no matter how good an actor you are, faking it simply won't work. Ask questions, take notes and lean in to show that you're engaged in their answers. When you take an interest in people, they remember you - and when people remember you, it's good for business.

3. Add value and give first.

Share your network of contacts with your customers, and don't expect them to give you their business without you giving them something first. I don't mean give away free product in the hopes they will buy more. Instead, give away things that increase your value - like a referral to a partner of yours, a solution to a business problem that you read about or heard from someone else, or even help finding a new dentist!

4. Express your true intent.

Tell customers upfront: "I don't know if there's a fit between what you need and what I have right now, but I'm hoping we can explore that in more detail during this meeting." Or: "I only have your best interests at heart, and I promise to be honest with you throughout our conversation. In the end, I hope that we can mutually decide if there is a reason to move forward. If not, that's fine too, and I hope you'll feel comfortable telling me so." This advice runs counter to 90% of the approaches I see being used in the field today. But then again, maybe that's why only 10% of

sales people are top performers. Try it yourself a few times, and you'll be amazed at the response you get.

5. Don't go for the big decision all at once.

In our personal lives, we don't propose to someone on a first date (at least, not usually!). The same is true in our business relationships. So get approval from the customer to move ahead in increasing increments. The first approval might be just to agree to speak openly with each other, as outlined in Tip #5 above. The second could be an agreement on a follow-up call time or meeting date. The third might be gaining agreement on the decision making criteria or a commitment to have the "big boss" present at the demo, followed by an agreement to a "go/no go" decision date. All too often, I see sales people jumping way ahead of their prospect's buying curve. This puts the buyer and seller out of synch. When the sales person is trying to close while the prospect is still evaluating options or determining risk, trust is broken, the prospect feels pushed and the sale comes dangerously close to disappearing.

6. Use friendly, warm words.

When you use simple language instead of formal "business speak," people respond better and trust you more. So limit your words to three syllables max. And don't try to impress prospects with your extensive vocabulary, or you may end up just sounding fake.

7. Ask the right questions.

Successfully building agreement with your prospects depends on your ability to ask the right questions. What are the right questions? Those that move the prospect from an intellectual position of knowing they have a problem that needs to be solved, to an emotional state of trusting you to solve that problem in a way that will satisfy them. In short, the right questions are those that reveal true buying motivations. Mastering the right questions will ensure that you and your client build a strong relationship, wherein you can both succeed - and profit!

Colleen Francis, Sales Expert, President/Founder of Engage Selling Solutions, since 2001. Engage Selling - Everything you need to sell more, in less time and make more money! For more great sales tips, articles, resources - please visit: http://www.engageselling.com or our Selling University at: http://www.engage-u.com Try out Colleen's Lead-Up Mentoring Coaching Program for the first 60 days free at:
http://www.lead-up.com

Receive our free 6 week mini e-course and become part of our Sales Community by signing up for our bi-weekly e-zine, Engaging Ideas, at:
http://www.engagingideasonline.com
Source: http://Top7Business.com/?expert=Colleen_Francis