The Customer Is the Main Character in Your Story

Every business enterprise is unique and each one has its own story.  However, they all have a story based on striving to succeed by reaching, retaining, and continuously providing quality service to their customer base.  To be successful, a company must focus on the client’s experience – they are the main character in the story!

If you want to engage people, you need to find ways to show you understand them and are willing to remember the small details of your relationship with them over long periods of time.  Maintaining these relationships requires the tools to build meaningful interactions.  This is the key to providing ongoing and exceptional customer service.   Clients need to know that your business connections with them are important and meaningful to you and that your company is willing to cultivate and nurture these interactions.  The more you do this, the more engaged your clients will be, ensuring long-term beneficial relationships.

The most effective tool to help in this process is Customer Relationship Management software or CRM.  For the past twenty years, SalesChain has helped business automation industry customers remember the little things about their clients, through our exceptional CRM tools.  They provide a platform for tracking interactions and maintaining and improving customer relationships.  Details like remembering to wish their clients a happy birthday or remembering their daughter’s name help the top 1% of salespeople build the most powerful relationships in their database.  It is easy for different departments within a company to contribute to that database in a digital world.  Rather than having to keep written notes on customer data, all employees can access and use electronic records to better understand their targeted group of customers.   Sharing the same data helps departments work seamlessly together to improve product development, marketing campaigns, and order fulfillment.

Here are five small things that you can do for your customers that will show them how much you care.

1) Remember the Details of the Deal

Your customers should not have to repeat information, because you do not have it at your fingertips!  A CRM system offers easy access to key data, such as name, position in the company, email address, phone numbers, birthday, postal address, website, and social media accounts.  An exceptional CRM system goes way beyond these basic facts, highlighting details of every interaction with a customer in any format (phone call, business meeting, email, or voice mail message, targeted marketing, invoices, orders, customer service requests, etc.).  One of the best ways to show a customer how much their business means to you is by remembering the fine-print details of every interaction with them.

With the SalesChain system, diligent salespeople and managers can enter notes on deals, leads, and numerous other aspects of client accounts, that identify their needs for office technology.  This facilitates more personalized communication with a contact.  Rather than merely entering the details of a sales proposal, noting the intrinsic reasons why someone might want a particular piece of technology can help personalize and humanize a sales pitch.  Being able to reference their existing equipment and know the challenges they face shows that you care.   SalesChain software incorporates a direct integration to e-Automate, placing this data automatically under the “Book of Business” tab in every customer account.  As you progress through the steps of a sale, referencing changes in pricing, credits, and accessories, as well as recommending the newest technology can build your client’s confidence in your industry knowledge while assuring them that their best interests are top of mind.

2) Check in On Important Dates

Any important date can be an opportunity to spark a conversation.  High-performing salespeople realize this and are consistent in using special occasions to check in on their clients.  Whether it is an anniversary, birthday, holiday, a personal achievement, or an upcoming life event (for example, a new baby or a child going off to college) recognizing special occasions helps build a connection between you and your client and shows them you care.  After all, these important dates hold meaning in the lives of clients.  Acknowledging them opens the lines of communication to gain better insight into client’s lives and potential business needs.  Clients are more likely to do business with someone they are comfortable with and feel understood by.

What is a practical way to use CRM to manage these dates?  Try adding recurring tasks in SalesChain’s task management system.  This will remind you to contact key clients on their birthdays or other important dates.  This is one easy way to strengthen these relationships and provide opportunities to further potential business deals.  When you know who you are addressing, you can consciously tailor your conversation, checking in on customer service needs or even initiating a new sales pitch.   Since these are still client relations contacts, you can log a few bonus activities in the system just by building on your client relationships!

 

“If you place the emphasis on getting the little things right, and address the everyday problems that come up, you can encourage a culture of attention to detail.”

– Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin

3) Leverage Networking Connections and References

A quality CRM tool makes it easy to build a database that includes mutual connections between your clients and potential clients.  A great way to build immediate rapport with a new customer is to mention existing mutual business associates.  There are many sources for building this contact list, including the individual that put you in contact with the new prospect, LinkedIn or other social media connections, or a mutual friend (whether inside or outside of the industry to which your company belongs).  If your client realizes that a mutual contact holds you in respect, they are more likely to trust your business acumen and pursue an order or other business deal with your company.

SalesChain helps you to leverage the power of these connections.  Using groups and demographic information intelligently in SalesChain can help find the common ground between existing customers and potential new ones.  Taking the time to build a comprehensive database in our system gives salespeople an easy reference point when they make sales calls.

4) Ask Questions About Kids, Pets, Hobbies, Etc.

Good salespeople are good conversationalists.  Like a great friend, they remember details about their client’s personal life, and ask questions to encourage communication.  Over the course of a business deal, numerous direct client interactions take place.  These should always be pleasant and personal.  All customers respond better to friendly banter than to hard-sell tactics!  A salesperson will accrue a large amount of information about a client over the lifetime of a sale.  Taking the time to learn and document this information (both personal and business-related) pays off by strengthening a hopefully long-term business association.

High-achieving salespeople also seek out opportunities to engage in mutual hobbies.  There is a reason that taking a client golfing or out to a baseball game has become a cliché.  Since everyone enjoys the company of people who share their interests, it is wise to take time to get to know your clients as people and look for authentically shared pastimes, such as sports, music, or television programs.  SalesChain software has embedded note-taking tools that can facilitate relationship development.  Add notes to a client file that reference personal information, so that you can be informed and demonstrate genuine and detailed interest.

5) Remember Their Job Title, Employer, and Career Goals

All employees like to be recognized for their status and importance to their companies.  In today’s business environment, a valued employee is also looking to advance their portfolios and their careers.  Expressing an interest in the career trajectory of a potential client builds a deeper level of personal connection to that person.  LinkedIn makes it easy to keep up with clients’ professional lives and SalesChain makes it easy to see company hierarchies.  These tools can therefore help you remember why someone is in the role that they are in, as well as where they hope to be in the future.  Once again, this provides the savvy salesperson with friendly talking points.  If a client changes careers, or simply changes their job, you should be able to reach out to them to offer encouragement or congratulations.  Therefore, it is important to document electronic notes on both personal information and on the company that a client represents.

It’s All About Building A Connection

When you take the time to build more personal connections with your clients, they will most likely think of your product or service first when they need it, and this will ultimately win you more sales.  More information helps you target clients more specifically.  It is easier to sell to a customer when you have been tracking their buying habits.  SalesChain’s CRM system gives you complete customer interaction history, allowing salespeople to anticipate customer requirements.  Being proactive allows you to offer the right products and services exactly when they are needed.  Remember, they are the main characters in your business story. It is never about you, or your next deal, rather it is always about them and what is happening in their lives.

Ready to Streamline Your Business?

Use the link below to schedule a discovery call for a demonstration of the SalesChain system. One of our representatives would be happy to assist you, answer your questions and see if SalesChain is the right partner to help you grow your business.