Some people think of their customers as a means to buy their products or services. Some people even think of their clients as someone who ‘transacts’ with their company. Some people think they have a great relationship with their customers, but the reality is that they really don’t and they don’t seem to realise this either.

Some people do in fact have a great relationship with their customers, but when they are not interacting with the customer, they are left feeling cold and unloved.

Do you have a great relationship with your customer, by means that they feel the warmth from you, they feel like you’re genuinely happy to hear from them, or see them? Does your customer feel the love from everyone in your company and feel like they are truly treasured?

Follow these 12 easy steps (not in any particular order) to make your customers love you more and feel the love more.

1. When they contact you, be swift to reply to their call or message. This shows your customer that you are valuing their business and want to be readily available for them.
2. Have a realistic ‘Out of Office’ Auto Reply and voicemail message when you might be travelling for business or on annual leave. Your “out of office’ email message and voicemail message should say that you have limited or no access to your messages until xxx (date). If you have limited access, ensure you pick up your messages and reply to any urgent messages. If you feel that someone needs someone to contact in case of an emergency, you could direct your messages to an office administrator, assistant or colleague in the office. Your customers feel valued when they know someone else can help them, rather than be left out ‘in the cold’.
3. Thank your clients for their business, always with sincerity, at various touchpoints during your interactions with them. The ways that you can thank people are varied, from customer appreciation events, to hand written thank you cards, end of year gifts to a phone call just to say thank you.
4. Anticipate their needs when you work with a customer for a period of time, you get to know what historical data they have and where they might be moving to in the future. Don’t think that this is only a point for a salesperson that has worked with a client for a long time, when you’re new to an account it’s the perfect time for you to learn about the business and ask great questions to let them educate you in their company and future movements.
5. Encourage them to be open about their business so you can understand where their company is going and how you can work with them in the future. This will help you to be able to offer great solutions when you have a fully open relationship; you should build trust, so they know that being open doesn’t give them negotiating or buying power. Honesty gives power.
6. Earn their trust means different things to different people, but this entails connecting with your customers on a level that they believe you and build a committed relationship.
7. Ask great questions that encourage your customer to be open and allow you to truly understand their business and direction. Great questions get great results because you are then able to offer a solution to your customers’ requirements that they may not have even known they wanted. You know your product or service the best; you know how flexible you can be and how you can mould your product or service.
8. Treat your customer like they are your ‘one and only’ and at the same time make it your strategy to prove to your client that you could do what they’re asking because you’ve done this previously with another client. Using this as an example is a perfectly ok, however, this is where you should stop referring to other customers when you’re speaking with your client. Everyone likes to feel special, and when you talk about others it makes customers feel like they’re a number on your CRM system.
9. Track the performance and have regular performance appraisals as this shows the client that you value the business they’re giving you, and in return, you might be able to offer them a rebate or a preferential price for the volume of business. The more business they give you, the lower the rate they pay. Don’t think of this as discounted business but rather; they are giving you a higher volume of business.
10. Create options for your customer, allowing them to have a choice in what they want to ‘buy’ from you. A wide variety of options made available to your customer will be sure to keep them interested on what your business can offer.
11. Guide your client to buy your product or service, by helping them see the value of each option and how it would work best for them. Let the customer see in a side by side comparison and allow them to ask for your opinion. Be ready to show the benefits of each option and don’t be afraid to explain to them the downside of the options, but be sure to do this in a way that does not put a negative ‘spin’  to your offer.
12. Be available throughout the delivery no matter what you’re selling to a customer, once the deal is signed, don’t walk away from the project, be a part of the process. Don’t take over someone else’s job, but being briefed on the process and the customer is happy is paramount. This will ensure they build trust and return to you again and again.

Study these 12 tips and start applying them to your business, business model and your role. They might be as simple as you think but surprisingly, you’ll be delighted to know how these tips can eventually help your business in the long run.

If you’re interested to know more on how to make your customers love you more, feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to hear from you and, of course, help you!