A happy customer isn’t just someone who will buy your products today. A Truly happy customer will be loyal to your business, your brand & keep purchasing your products for a long time to come. They will be an advocate for your business, promote your products on their social media and then recommend it to their friends and family. Thus bringing in more business without the marketing fee. Your potential customers are far more likely to be interested in reading your reviews than reading your marketing emails, commenting on your social media and downloading your content.

If you don’t think your customer service affects your sales, think again. Your Potential buyers care far less about what you say about yourself and now more than ever they care about what you are giving back to the environment and community as well as caring about what your customers are saying about you. So, it’s time to start thinking outside of the box when looking to connect with your customers as there is no amount of energy, time or money you can pump into marketing that would override any negative impact from poor customer service.

Here are 5 ways you can start building customer loyalty, brand awareness and deliver amazing customer service.

1. Promote what customers are saying about you.

 Your business should be sharing what the customers who already trust you are saying. Share their experiences, share their stories & gain more trust from others (most people like being shared on social media) and a single share of a post can double your reach in a single click.

2. Listen to your customers.

By allocating significant time to speak with your customer base, you have the chance to improve your customer loyalty. If your business is selling cakes & you have sent out a batch full of orders, post a poll to see their thoughts on the selection, offer suggestions for new recipes; by keeping this level of community alive, you are growing your customer lifetime value. I’ve seen countless time on social media where customers are commenting on posts asking for information, 3 days go by and they still have not had a reply. Can you guess what has happened? That potential customer has been ignored and probably gone elsewhere for the product. A simple link to the website with an “I’m sure it would look great on you” could have started that customers journey to shopping with you.

3. Gather Testimonials 

Have you requested kind words to promote your business? Studies show that 77% of your business comes from word of mouth, social media referrals & testimonials. Asking for a testimonial or a few kind words from people you have worked with or supplied a product to will start showcasing your growing customer base. There are tips for gathering testimonials quicker too, post 10% off your next order if you leave a review or an incentive that gets people to the keyboard. 

No matter how good, nothing you can ever write or create will be as trusted, motivating, or as influential to potential customers as what your current customers have to say about you.

4. Get to know your customers.

Your customers should be more than just a number on your revenue report at the end of the month. Your customers have goals and unique qualities you should be looking to learn about (even if you can not retain their business). Crazy right, good customer service doesn’t stop. This is how you will build meaningful relationships with your customer base & have the best chance of “going viral” with your kindness. Making you stand out from the rest. Here is an example: 

So, say you’re a personal trainer & while working through the 4-week fit blast program with Lauren, your most recent sign-up, she shares some unique insights about herself. 

• She signed up to get fit to run her first-ever 10K marathon. 
• She has 5 living in her household, and her kids always pinch her favourite Galaxy chocolate.
• Her Birthday is April 28th (*cough, cough* that is also my Birthday).

You add Lauren into your calendar to remind you to drop her an email 6 weeks before the marathon asking her how she feels leading up to the big day—providing you with the opportunity to re-engage with her. Follow an email or two you can drop in that you are happy to support her with the 2nd stage of your marathon training programme if she decided to move on. You also note April 28th to send her a handwritten card and 5 bars of Galaxy, one for each member of her household, so she doesn’t have to share.  

Be prepared for these types of acts to gather a lot of attention & potentially blow the flood gates wide open. 

5. How can you maintain this level of customer service?

At this point, having a CRM in place will be extremely useful. A CRM system is a Customer Resource Management System. This is where you should be recording all of your contacts: both new leads and customers, adding additional (well, any) information you have about them, which will help grow your relationship. 

A CRM system is more like a digital notepad, and you will still need to set the tasks in your calendar as a reminder to follow up with customers at their important moments. If you can share a few of their important moments with them, you won’t be forgotten.  If you would like more information on CRM systems for start-ups or SMEs arrange a conversation and I would be more than happy to go through some options with you.

So can you afford not to give excellent customer service? 

In my opinion, your business can not afford to give customers any reason to be unhappy with you. It isn’t just their business your stand to lose; it’s your reputation and everyone else’s business who hears about the one bad experience you let split through your fingers. They are the reason your lights are on in the first place. They deserve the best from you.

If you are reading this thinking “my customers deserve more from me” or ” I wish I had more time to connect with my customers” it is worth reading my blog on how to hire a virtual assistant.

If you would like to arrange a conversation or book in for an hour’s website/marketing review please contact me via the webform.