Customers give life to our companies. Without them, we’re all merely crackpot inventors or just more people with cool ideas. We have no actual business until we have people willing to pay for the product or service we’re offering.
Acquiring customers is just one piece of the overall customer strategy. Keeping those customers, however, is even more important. And how do we keep them? By providing great service, of course!
How, then, should we go about developing a customer strategy? How do we approach them? How do we meet their needs? How do we make them happy? How do make our service stand out in the crowd?
In developing a customer strategy, there are a few key considerations. We must, however, always be ready to change and adapt. So once you have those happy customers, don’t stop asking yourself how to continue improving their experience with your company.
Who dat?
At the first, most basic level, you need to know definitively who the people are that you call customers. What’s the basic need driving their interest in your company? Is it business or personal? What are some positive experiences they’d like to repeat? Negative experiences they’d like to avoid?
By building a simple customer profile—by phone, survey, or even face-to-face conversation—you give yourself a blueprint for dealing with specific customers while gaining intelligence on your ustomer base a whole.
If a customer speaks alone in the woods…
You may have the most vocal customers in the world, but if you’re not listening, they’ll never be heard. Are you listening in the right places? Choose contact channels according to customer preference, of course.
But also consider how you talk to them. After all, if you’re the one shouting in the woods, you’re not likely to be heard either. And when it comes to talking to your customers, channel is just one part of the equation. Frequency, relevance, and customer expectation all play a role in communication strategy. Don’t be a spammer.
Coming together
Now that you have a nice snapshot of your customers—as well as some guidelines for how you’ll communicate with them and vice versa—you can start building out your ideal customer journey. The next steps? Know when you’ve succeeded and handling customer complaints to overcome dissatisfaction to keep their trust.
Tune in Friday for our thoughts on these pieces of your customer service and support strategy.