If you aren’t communicating with your customers regularly…you have problems!
Too often my clients (who sell services and/or products and rely on customers for their continued success) tell me that they don’t frequently reach out to their customers to gauge how things are going or even to share information. They assume that all is going well – after all the customer is still purchasing and if they aren’t looking for “extras,” why bother.
However, you must be in constant contact with your customers – in a variety of ways. By building strong relationships you retain your customers and stay ahead of your competition.
In a previous post we talked about surveying customers to see how satisfied they are. You might also refer back to our post on how to gather effective customer feedback.
Here, let’s list some ways you might choose to reach out and stay in touch with (and in the mind of!) your customers.
- Surveys: regularly send customer satisfaction surveys to keep in touch with customers and ensure your products and services still fulfill their needs.
- One-on-one meetings: schedule time with each of your customers to learn more about their initiatives and how your business can support them in reaching their goals. Take them to coffee or out to lunch.
- Focus groups: arrange to meet with small groups of customers – especially if you want to gather information for development of a new product or service, or if you are trying to improve a current product or service.
- Customer Advisory Board: we talked about this in a previous post. A customer advisory board is a great way to give back and get from your clients.
- Chat with the customer at the point of sale: for storefront operations, this is a good way to reach out to your customer. As they are making their purchase, inquire if they found everything they were looking for and if they are satisfied with interactions with your sales folks. You may also have them fill out a survey on site for a discount off future purchases or a free gift.
- Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook: reach out to your customers on these social media networks to keep in constant touch. There are many tools for tracking what customers are saying online about your business.
- Website: enable your customer to easily communicate with you via your website through a form or interactions via comments on blog posts.
- Newsletters: sent via email or posted on your website, newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your customers. For storefront operations, you might include coupons or special shopping days. Include customer testimonials or mini-case studies.
- Webinars: in a webinar, you might offer information on the state of the industry you are in, new products and services you are launching, a Q&A session with customers, tips & tricks, etc.
- Breakfast sessions or “lunch and learns”: These mini 1 – 2 hour events enable you to showcase a product or service to your client. It gives them a “feel” for what you can do for them.
How about you? What ways have you found successful to reach out to your customers? Please share in the Comments field below. Thanks!
Hi Ashraf,
It does depend on your role within the airline. For example, if you are at the airport and at the service desk for airline, you would be able to interact with customers right there. If a customer comes up to the service desk with questions, to change the ticket, inquire about the flight – your interactions with the customer help to increase customer satisfaction and in the interactions, you have the ability to continue to sell the benefits/value of using your airline. If you can tell me more about your role, I may be able to help you with some ideas on how to reach customers – whether current or potential future customers of the airline.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Gina
i working in airline co. and we facing much obstacles that how can reach to expected customers .. according to our co. policy (Reduce expenses) we can not use any items of 10 above .
normal people in Egypt can not use any item of above
can you help
many thanks
Thank you for your comment md. zahid – and thank you for reading. I agree that it is of value to understand your competitors and how they service/support the client and to use that information to improve how you work with clients. Too often I see companies who blindly follow what their competitors are doing – just because the competitors are doing something, doesn’t mean it is the right thing for your company and your customers. You want to “stand out” from the crowd.
Thank you again!
Best regards,
Gina
Dear Gina,
Thank you for presenting such a nice and topic. What if we use the information of the competitors and determine where we are now and take appropriate steps to satisfy the target customers better than the them.
Hi Rob,
Thank you – a great addition! A simple “Thank you” note can go such a long way and make a great impact! I also like the idea of a testimonial.
Thanks for reading and a great addition to the list!
Best,
Gina
Gina:
Great topic and very thorough. I would add that you can simply write them an actual letter and thank them for being a client. Also, ask them for a testimonial to use. That way you know how they really feel and tie them to you at the same time.
Rob