5 ways to make happy customers or clients

5 ways to make happy customers or clients

Article courtesy of AccountingWEB UK.

1. LEARN FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS

• Be a good listener
• Most important is to identify what your customers love the most, and in order to do this you need to listen to what your customers are communicating to you.
• But really listen
• Understand what they are saying and clarify anything that might be ambiguous. What you think they mean might be different to what they actually mean.

TIP: Listen to what their needs are, and then offer your suggestion on the best way to go about fulfilling their needs. Your customers will know you care about them.

2. BE AVAILABLE

• Make yourself accessible
• The longer it takes for a customer to find a way to get in touch with you, the higher the likelihood is that they will report a negative experience. And in today’s web-enabled world this might mean a public complaint on social media platforms like Twitter.
• ALWAYS BE THERE
• If a customer wants to get in touch with you to provide feedback or make a complaint, particularly the latter, it’s paramount that you give a clear channel for them to communicate with you
• The longer it takes for a customer to find a way to get in touch with you, the higher the likelihood is that they will report a negative experience. And in today’s web-enabled world this might mean a public complaint on social media platforms like Twitter.

TIP: Have a clear process so customers can tell you how they feel privately. This way you can minimise the risks of them going public with something they feel strongly about, before addressing it with you.

• Be proactive
• Social media empowers you to be more active in your customer care – use it to your own advantage.
• Avoid a break up
• Sometimes relationships don’t work as we expect them to, be it due to ourselves or other factors. When you can’t stop a customer falling out of love with you, encourage them to talk to you directly. However, this is not always possible, so don’t just stand back and let your customers tell you how they feel.

TIP: Ensure that you constantly listen to online conversations about you, your products and services, so you can identify and respond to both positive and negative feedback as quickly as possible.

4. VALUE YOUR CUSTOMERS

• Treat them like they are your first
• One’s first love is never forgotten, and the same should apply to every customer, whether they are regular, a one-off, spend a little or a lot.
• You’ll have an image in your mind of what your ideal customer looks like – someone who returns regularly and is highly profitable, perhaps.
• Work on the principle that every customer is of high-value, as every single one has the potential to become your ideal customer, returning to you again and again and becoming highly profitable.

IP: Make every single customer feel special, as you will want to find your perfect match. After all, we are all someone’s ideal customer and you don’t want to miss the opportunity to find yours!

5. STRIVE FOR MOMENTS OF BRILLIANCE

• Become unforgettable
• What is a moment of brilliance? It’s when a customer has an experience that exceeds their expectations.
• We all remember those special moments in a relationship when something that made us very happy unexpectedly happened.
• By translating this to your business, you can ensure that your customers will always remember you for going the extra mile to please them.

TIP: Whether it’s a discount voucher, a gift or further information on how to use a product or just needs to understand the current position, find out what your customers like and appreciate the most, so these moments of awesome are meaningful to them.

APPLY THESE FIVE SIMPLE RULES CONSISTENTLY AND YOU WILL BE WELL ON YOUR WAY TO GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS CLOSELY, GETTING ESSENTIAL CUSTOMER INSIGHT AND ULTIMATELY FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS – AND THEM FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU!