If you are interested in growing your small business, the answer could lie with your customers and how you relate with them. Building a relationship with your customers can help you increase sales and transform your business.
To build a relationship with your customers, you need to know what effective communication means and how you can use it to make your customers loyal.
How Does Communication Affect My Business
"How Has Telling People About What I Sell Affected My Profit?"
To understand the importance of communication to your business, you can answer this very important question. Communication is the core of our existence as human beings. You can't survive without talking to someone for so long; the same thing applies to your business. Good communication is the foundation of every successful relationship. If telling people about your business has given you even one sale, then imagine how many more sales you can get if you can replicate that on a large scale.
Here are 5 great ways to build relationships with your customers:
Communicate with them
For any reasonable relationship to thrive, there has to be a good flow of communication. Promoting your business and listening to what your customers want is a solid way to build a relationship with them.
Some practical and easy channels to use to reach your audience are;
- Face-To-Face Comm
- Phone Calls
- Instant Messaging
- Emails
- Social Media
Break the norm
In business, you need to find a way to get customers to remember you and retain memories of satisfaction that they derived from your products. First impressions matter when it comes to building trust.
To put simply, always over-deliver; Impress them, leave a good impression on them and watch them run back to you when they need that product you sell.
To do this, consider giving returning customers a discount, selling good quality, and trying better packaging.
Ask for feedback
You need to know that you can't satisfy everyone; customers would always have a good or bad opinion about your business. It's something that happens.
But it is now for you to listen and take their feedback just as they have made their feelings known. Invite customer feedback to show you are listening.
Customer feedback is a way to design your service to each customer's requests, and building this helps you build a rapport with them. The better your offering meets their needs, the more your business will grow.
Connect with your customers
Use social media platforms as a way to effectively talk to your customers. You need to reach them through a channel they are used to ask them their satisfaction. You can build customer relationships through your online presence.
Make your customers feel important.
If you have completed the above points, you have reached the final stage of building a relationship with your customers. So what do you do to make them feel important and heard? Reward your loyal customers with discounts making it known that you appreciate their patronage.
In conclusion,
Building a relationship with your customers could help your business make even more money than it does right now. It won' t happen overnight but if you invest in getting it right, it can lead to increased loyalty, a better reputation, and greater sales.
A bit of creativity, active listening, and appreciation are the ingredients to successful customer relationships. If you feel like you need to further understand communication between you and your customers, we've compiled a comprehensive guide to communicating with customers for Nigerian small businesses.
