News
Preserving
Customer Relationships
By Bob Martel, president, JMB Marketing Group
Once in a while you have to put aside all of
the debate about the latest and greatest social
(I call them anti-social) marketing
technologies, and focus on the real goal:
Creating a conversation with qualified prospects
and customers alike, leading up to a purchase
decision. Everyone is Twittering their life
away, publishing senseless, mostly useless,
self-promotional drivel, and very few marketing
professionals are actually focusing on having
real, meaningful dialogue with their customers.
Some would argue that marketing people don’t
talk to customers and prospects… that
face-to-face interaction for sales people. We
have lost sight of engaging the customer in
conversation about them, their wants, desires,
and needs. Thus, I shine a light on the
importance of preserving customer relationships.
Are you investing enough time doing so?
Ever catch yourself silently saying, “Well, I
guess I should have seen it coming?” You play
Monday morning quarterback with analysis of a
failed customer relationship, after it’s too
late to restore the once healthy affiliation. It
was great for both parties. The company enjoyed
a reliable revenue stream. The client enjoyed
the perceived value of the benefits they
received. Yet, in the long run, the customer
relationship you thought you had nurtured and
cemented firmly in place was not, in reality,
anything close to what you envisioned. Because
it’s so important, and with 2010 at about a
halfway point, I thought I’d call your attention
to those customer relationships that are so
invaluable to your future.
Relationships are all about trust; hard to earn,
yet easy to destroy. Customers come in an out of
our business lives, just as people cross our
paths throughout our personal journey. We
interact with some customers only once, while
most form a longer relationship; perhaps for a
year or two, perhaps sporadic, or for a
lifetime. It’s a natural process, but just as in
personal relationships, you have to be attentive
and nurturing in the relationships with your
customers. It’s too easy to take your existing
customer relationships for granted.
In business, just as in life, relationships have
a beginning, middle, and an end. How they begin
is not so important as how they evolve, or how
they can dissolve when taken for granted, or
when issues are not addressed. Many of those
relationships are healthy and prosperous; others
are short-lived, and for good reason in many
cases. The lifetime value of a customer
relationship can increase a hundred fold, or it
can end, sometimes tumultuously, and the value
you once enjoyed goes up in smoke. The payoff,
all of the investment in goodwill, and the
quality of the relationship can be lost forever,
if you or your customer is misreading the state
of the relationship, and whether that customer
is happy.
Your customer relationship management plan is a
key marketing strategy that you must develop and
perfect. Call it managing your business karma,
or charting your business destiny by making your
customers feel acknowledged and appreciated.
Just as you are on a journey, both personal and
in business, so are your customers. They count
on you, and they also need to feel valued by
your company. Close your eyes (after reading
this article!). Imagine being your customer
trying to have a relationship with you and your
company. What is it like for them now? What can
be done to strengthen that bond? (If you are
interested in the Zen of Marketing, drop me a
note with Zen in the subject line).
Assume that your fiercest competitors, and
competitors you don’t even know, are courting
your best customers. The big question is “What
are you doing to manage your important customer
relationships?” Of course, all customer
relationships are important, some more so than
others, and some more profitable than others.
Since we are on the topic, now would be a good
time to let the high maintenance, low profit
relationships fall by the wayside. Marketing
technology aside, here are five tips for helping
you manage and nurture the customer
relationships through smarter marketing:
1. Stop taking your customer relationships for
granted. Whether you use a CRM system, a contact
management tool, or your accounting software,
you need a communication strategy for staying in
touch with them, so they know you appreciate
their trust and confidence in your company.
2. Educate your customers and help them make
smart buying decisions. One of the best
strategies for luring a valued customer away
from you is for your competition to educate them
about topics that you are ignoring. Your
customers will call you on the carpet for not
showing the initiative. After all, they trust
you and rely on your expertise.
3. Understand the customer’s wants, desires, and
motivations for buying your services. Show them
the benefits and build upon the perceived value
by improving your service delivery or product
offering. Google “16 Core Desires” for more
information on human desires, or send me an
email requesting my 27 Magical Marketing
Secrets. You’ll also want to pick up the book
Who Am I? by Steven Reiss.
4. Create a well thought out communication plan
for staying in touch with your customers (and
prospects, with a separate system). Timing is
everything, even with your best customers who
wouldn’t dream of going elsewhere, right? You
simply don’t know when your customers are in a
buying mode, but you can influence that mode
using a combination of regular emails,
newsletters, postcards, and sales letters,
extending private offers, or announcing
pertinent news.
5. Find creative ways to let your best
customers, and those in your database with
higher potential lifetime value, know that you
value their decision to do business with your
company, given the myriad of choices. A
handwritten thank you note is a great place to
start. A phone call from the CEO or C-level
executive team to top accounts is an amazingly
simple strategy, and boosts loyalty. The gesture
also stimulates the need to reciprocate with a
purchase!
As you look at your important customer
relationships, look at them as people, too. Your
customers, believe it or not, are human beings
(most of them, anyway). They have families,
personal dreams and goals, job and life
stresses, and they face the same everyday
challenges of business. They have hectic
schedules driving their kids to soccer,
lacrosse, basketball camp, or wherever. They are
busy people leading busy lives, just like you.
But, it is your job to stay in touch!
Specifically, it is your job to understand and
point out how your services and products
contribute to the quality of their lives. This
is the key to preserving customer relationships.
In the industry, we always talk about B2C or B2B
marketing. These categories are important, but
don’t forget that you are marketing to an
individual person who can make or influence a
purchase decision. I call it P2P marketing;
Person to Person.
If you’d like to calculate the lifetime value of
your customers, as well as look at the
mathematical power of having an effective
referral program in place, request our lifetime
value spreadsheet with LTV in the subject line.
Don’t ignore your current customer
relationships, or your personal relationships
for that matter! You can follow me on Twitter if
you’d like. Find me there by searching for
bob_martel. Or make connect with me on
Linked In.
---Source: Bob Martel is a
marketing consultant, direct marketing
copywriter, and author of the book “How to
Create All of the Business You Can Handle.”
Subscribe to his monthly newsletter:
Marketing
With Ease. Reach him at (508) 481-8383 or by
email at
bob.martel@jmbmarketing.com to request your
free copy of
34 Reasons to Write A Sales Letter to Your Best
Customers.
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