Subject: Customer Relationships Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date Posted in an earlier blog: 05/23/01
Some people want high-tech and high-touch.
Some companies send out messages from their CEOs. These messages may have been written by others who do it for the CEOs, but what's important is the effort to reach out to people.
If customers are more apt to identify with somebody else (other than the CEO), then a person who is like them ought to chosen to communicate with them - a spokesperson.
The messages may not elicit warm & fuzzy feelings though they may be written in an informal, friendly way. However, they still show an effort is made to have a relationship.
In a relationship, each party involved has to "own" it. As owners, they're able to change it. So, a company doing what I propose should be flexible. A rigid agenda will probably lead to failure.
A facilitator, like a moderator, will have to "drive" the project but still be open to directions from the customers. As a facilitator, s/he may have to stir things up at times by introducing new subjects.
Each part of a business has to be like this to thrive. Too many business owners watch competitors too much & listen to customers too little.
The internet, with e-mail, gives businesses quick access to customers. Businesses should be open to quick access from prospects & customers. The internet is too powerful to be used only for advertising.
A possible way to get people to opt-in to receiving messages is to show the company has opted-in to receiving messages from customers who have concerns. To do this effectively, the company must have real people for customers to contact (burt@abc.com instead of info@abc.com).
This can cause problems when people like "Burt" quit or are downsized. It may leave customers feeling abandoned. It may be worth the risk.
Dennis S. Vogel
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies and tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Be A Stronger Competitor With Better Relationships
Connections Are More Than Transactions
People can interact superficially with businesses through transactions. Some stores sell products instead of solutions.
People need to know how to use products to solve problems. You can serve people better by offering more than superficial transactions.
People value results more than products. You can help people get superior results with the right products & information.
People value relationships & they can't easily replace great relationships.
A great relationship improves at least one aspect of a person's life. Your business can improve lives instead of only selling products & services.
People can connect to achieve goals. Since people buy products because they have goals, you have a good chance to connect with them.
People connect through meaningful communication. It requires exchanging information, not just money.
Products don't end people's struggles when they don't get the advertised results. Your advertising should show how you help people get expected results.
How Hard Can It Be?
When people have instructions, they may be overconfident. After they start, they might have problems. Encourage them to ask questions before & after they buy from you. Any bit of advice can make a difference between a mistake & success.
Your success might depend on helping people get full value from products. That full value often includes relief from stress. For full value, they need to learn how to get the best results for their specific conditions.
It's hard to quantify effects of stress & benefits of stress relief. When people experience that extra value, they'll want more.
There's stress involved in taking time to learn another thing. People might have trouble understanding instructions.
If you have different ways to explain how to use products, you can reduce people's stress.
You could try to help people find instructions they understand.
You can help people adjust instructions for their specific conditions. You can help people adjust actions according to changing conditions.
You should compete by supplying products & knowledge people need to fill gaps between current conditions & desired results. Until gaps are filled, people won't be satisfied.
You can profitably fill some satisfaction gaps better than competitors. You need to combine product knowledge with insights about customers.
You can help them with specific problems when you encourage them to describe their situations.
You can say, "There are different ways to use this product. If you answer some questions, I can help you get full value from this. What are you working on? What's the main benefit you need?"
You can ask diagnostic questions like doctors do.
When did it start? How often does it happen? What have you tried? Did that help at all?
As you learn about products & customers, you'll know which questions are applicable.
You can help customers determine causes & effects, so in the future, they can avoid negative causes & repair the effects.
By asking about what they have now, you can help customers determine what they need. You should have ways to help find them tools & materials.
After tools & materials are found, you can help them with techniques. If you have instructional resources, you can show exactly what people need. If you don't offer instructional resources, you can help people find instructions by title or author.
There are instructions available through the Internet, but people might be skeptical. You can review videos & written instructions, so you can help people find reliable instructions that are applicable to their conditions.
Gathering & Storing Information
You should have a process for finding, retrieving & prioritizing information.
You might find instructions for multiple products & using a product in many ways.
You can organize information in cabinets &/or computer flash drives.
As you plan product & service promotions, you can gather information & instructions about what you promote.
As you help customers find information, you should save what you find.
Search engines find expired links, so you should save some information.
If you don't download a resource, you should keep a record of titles & authors with the links. If links expire, you can do a search for titles & authors' names.
You can keep lists of favorites & bookmarks in web browsers. You can also copy & paste listings into documents about specific subjects.
Some text editing programs let people click URLs to launch web browsers.
When you have information available, you should include that benefit in your advertising, so people will know you offer solutions, not just products.
You can include printed or digital resource lists with products.
Analogy About Driving, Faith & Trust
If people have faith in your driving skills, they might let you drive their cars. If they ride while you drive, it shows they trust you.
Solving problems can be like a long, stressful commute. When you help people with information, it's like you're sharing the driving responsibility.
By sharing a drive, people can go further in less time.
Your advice can help people avoid mistakes. They'll have more time & energy to do more tasks. They might have more money to buy more.
People might have enough faith to buy what you sell. As you build relationships, they should accept your advice.
When you inspire a trusting relationship, people are more apt to buy from you.
There's a lot of value in trust. People want assurance.
Think about how much better you feel when you deal with people you trust.
You should do what you can to inspire trust, so people can be less stressed.
When you help people solve problems, you'll help them build self-confidence.
Self-confident people tend to be less stressed as they solve problems.
When you connect with customers, you can benefit them in hard-to-quantify ways. Psychological benefits are real & people may return to get more.
What Is A Connection?
Personal connections involve agreeing. In a retail context, people can agree about a goal & how to achieve it.
You can help people with techniques, so they know what to do. They might need help with step-by-step plans.
You can help people recognize problems, so they don't try the wrong solutions. They might need tips, so they know when problems are solved & don't do more than necessary or stop too soon.
You can help people determine which tools & materials to use plus how to use them.
If you don't have particular tools & materials, you could find people find sources of what they need.
Connecting & Understanding
People will feel some relief when they know you understand. They'll doubt your advice if you seem to misunderstand.
A good lesson about communication is in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. Covey wrote a chapter about "Habit 5 Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood."
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
