How Well Do You Know Your Customer?
If you only know the name and billing processes of your customers, then you are severely ill-equipped! Good customer service and customer relationship management (CRM) is all about knowing your clientele and being proactive with customer satisfaction.
There is no rule saying you can’t be friends with a client. Whether you join them on the golf course for a few holes and a lot of bonding or you host company events and invite VIP customers, anything you can do to forge the lines of open communication with your clientele is a good thing.
What’s Trending
Trending topics related to your customer can be significantly pertinent information. If it matters to them, it should matter to you.
Even with B2B customers, trending topics may affect your relationship with them, both internally and externally. If they have a big boost in sales for a specific product, for example, they may need additional manufacturing, satellite offices or marketing. Even if none of these, or any other compensating changes the customer is forced to make, there may be side consequences that may affect you.
- Budget Increases/Decreases
- New Employees
- Updated strategies
- Opportunities for positive upselling outcomes
They’re Gone?!
That ‘new employees’ consequence can wreak havoc on your liaison’s nerves! Major shifts in employment or organizational structuring with your customers is something you NEED TO KNOW. The stronger the relationship your account representatives have with your client’s contact, the better. Any shifts in daily operations should be notated in your CRM system. It affects your business relations by:
- Knowing who to discuss sales plans or billing procedures/problems
- Knowing if downsizing efforts will affect contracting budgets
- Connecting your “final say” personnel with their “final say” personnel
One Big Happy Family
One of the most important aspects of a successful business is the community they create around themselves. The more people socializing about, listening out for updates and reaching out when prompted, the stronger a foundation of relevance your organization is.
No one wants to be left out when something exciting is happening. The greater your community ‘following’ you, the more valuable a cloud-based CRM for business is to your outfit. With eZnet CRM, for example, there is less of a chance of calling Jane at ABC Inc. to congratulate her on her retirement when it was actually Jenny at XYZ LLC!
Close yet So Far
There are boundaries you should keep in mind when considering the nature of client/employee business relationships. Your Accounts Receivable person dating the Accounts Payable person with your customer…not so smart. However, them forming a simple friendship where they know the best time to reach the other or like to share funny accounting memes either sees is great.
The more familiar your customers feel with members of your organization, the more inclined they are to continue with you when other options arise, even if they offer cheaper than your pricing. Your CRM system will categorize, update across the board and allow you monitoring capability without all the back and forth or time wasted. Your time is better spent getting to know your customers!
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