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June 25, 2010

Customer Service Management - Relationship marketing (Part 2)

Focus on Filling Customers' Needs: The better your product or service fits your customers' needs, the more sales you will have. When customers know you sincerely care about what they want and need, they will feel secure that they are making the right decision in buying from you.

By clearly identifying the needs of your customers, you can also confirm whether or not they are part of your target market. Even if they really do not require what you have, you can still build trust and improve your relationship by being candid and referring them to a more suitable resource. You never know when this good deed will return to you in the form of highly qualified referral business.

Listen More Than You Talk : Something magical happens when people give their undivided attention to others, without interrupting or focusing on what they are going to say next. This is true whether the environment is professional or personal. However, it is often overlooked in the context of establishing a business relationship, much to the detriment of the seller. After all, if you do all the talking, you will never learn anything about your prospect.

When you listen more than you talk, customers realize you are genuinely interested in them, and that you are trying to understand their specific situation. They feel more comfortable with you, and will soon realize you are on their side. Make active listening a regular practice, and you will find it much easier to create excellent relationships with your customers.

A Different Framework for Selling: Although a lot has been written recently about relationship selling, the concept itself is not new. The principles involved have always worked, and are even more important in today's highly service-oriented market environment.

Relationship selling does not consist of a simple set of techniques you have to master. It is a way of conducting yourself in the business world that is flexible, cooperative and professional. When selling in a context of building healthy relationships, you are operating as an ethical, considerate and helpful human being. You are also building your communication and other personal development skills. This is not only satisfying, but also quite effective in creating a steady stream of sales for your business.

Building realtionships with clients is the key:  It is very important of prospects seeing you as an expert, someone who can help solve their problems. Bringing all of the elements together is critical: relationship, sales process and expertise. One could even say that a proper sales relationship strikes a balance between friendship and caring on one hand, and professionalism and knowledge on the other.

Customer Loyalty: It takes a lot less money to increase your retention of current customers than to find new ones. It takes five times as much effort to attract new customers than retaining old customers.

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