The Pareto rule (also known as the 80/20 Rule) says that 80% of your business’ profit comes from 20% of your customers. Improve your sales and your sales-to-customer ratio by improving your communication with them. Here are 5 ways to do that:
Learn what drives your customers.
Your customers are your customers because you helped solve their problems (or needs). However, each of them has unique behavior that at times leads to delayed purchase decision.
Each customer has different buying objectives too. Knowing why they buy your products will help improve the way you engage with them, as well as shorten the time it takes for them to buy from you.
A chat box is a way to help you understand them. If they didn’t see what they were looking for on your website, having someone they can talk to in real time can help improve customer engagement.
Empower your employees.
Let your employees, most especially your chat representatives, know that their contribution to your business’ operation is important to its success.
Provide coaching programs that teach them to properly engage with customers without any sign of apathy. Customers are quick to sense a helpful employee from the one that is “just there” but wouldn’t make any real effort to help out.
Sally Strebel, founder of Page.ly, put it beautifully, “We never thought of it as customer service. We just treat people how we would want to be treated.”
Real-time information is real-time customer satisfaction.
Empower your customer service department by allowing them access to information in real time. This information improves the way your employees or chat representatives address any current and pressing concern. Real-time information should also come with valuable records of past customer experiences.
Any current interaction are added to the real-time information system and shared easily with other department heads or key personnel to make more process improvements.
Encourage your customers to talk.
Find creative ways to fetch real product or service experience from your customers; they’re the best persons to tell you the truth!
Conduct a brief survey either through email, social media poll or a basic opt-in form on your website to generate you wealth of information that will help improve your product or service. A survey also creates the impression that you are “all ears” when it comes to your customers’ needs.
Don’t rest on your laurels.
Steve Jobs said that no matter how big organizations become, they should operate like a startup. Keep evolving and look for innovative ways to further tickle the fancy of your customers – whether it’s about a new product in the pipeline, a new customer service process, a buyer incentive program or an add-on service.
SUMMARY
Having a genuine desire to truly understand what your customers’ needs are can go a long way in creating a strong relationship with them.
How about you, what steps have you taken in your organization to make your customers feel that you genuinely care about them?