Webfusion

Times are hard, they may begin to get harder as liquidity dries up and people look for more and more value in everything the spend money on. With price margins squeezed as tight as they possibly can go, differentiating from a competitor in the next few months is going to be less price-led more ‘added value’.

The key is your relationship with your customer

You probably already know who your customer is. Millions of dollars are spent globally on this metric and that metric so businesses can find out their ‘customer’. What influences them? What makes them tick? What makes them buy? That’s great, but it is how you use that information and more imporantly how the customer perceives you, that is going to have the biggest impact on where you reach on the ladder of success.

In any relationship people know each other and have an exchange of values. That’s all the way down from lovers to parent and child and it applies equally to business relationships whether you are in a B2B or B2C operation.

Your customer needs to be happy in your relationship just as much as your mate for life. There needs to be trust and understanding from both sides and a commitment. Just as you would woo a potential mate, so you should court your existing customers. Before you give the hard sell, ‘go on a date’. Get your customer interested in your company, get them buying something, however small it is and it is much easier to develop that relationship. There will be upselling paths but think of it more as an upserve path, offering greater value to the customer as you both grow to know and love one another more.

Once you have your customer onboard, then do use the metrics. Find out and try to understand each and every customer and customise that to fit them – it will be much more appreciated. Personalisation with context and suitably timed will not only impress the customer but is also likely to encourage them to recommend you to others too.

How do you deal with your customer relationships?