Have you ever wondered how to more effectively engage your customers? Sometimes it is hard to know what to say and other times it is a challenge to know how often to reach out to your customers. Whatever the situation may be, business owners often postpone the task of reconnecting with their customers after they have completed a project - simply because they don't know what to say.
The common misconception is that your customers don’t want to hear from you or that they already know enough about your company. However, there is immense value in sending friendly greetings, occasional updates and sharing relevant industry news with customers. Performing at least one of these actions can increase the chances that your customers will begin to rely on your company as an industry expert or repeat business with you. Engaging in these pleasant interactions with your customers can also benefit you by having them spread the word and share positive stories about your company to their friends and colleagues. The potential value is incredible.
At Rough Draft Solutions, we help empower companies to engage with their customers and provide them with real value. Here are a few tips to help you reach out to your current and past customers in an effective and engaging way.
Be a trusted partner
During a project, set the expectation with your customer that you are going to check in throughout the project to review your company’s quality of work, assess the client’s goals and ensure that you are on track. If applicable, schedule conversations for the months after the project is completed to make sure everything is going smoothly and that they are still satisfied. This sends the message that you are a committed partner, and that you are going to be a reliable resource for them long after the sale. By confirming that they are okay with this type of communication early on, you can feel comfortable staying in touch.
Remember, one of the most important parts of being a trusted partner is to listen! Listen to your customer's priorities, worries and needs and then address them. (Listening deserves an entire post of its own, so stay tuned!)
Be your customer's source of information
Send quarterly or maybe even monthly newsletters that include recent business successes, industry news and relevant tips and tricks that will help your customers. Provide them with this information without asking for anything back. Beyond staying in touch, you are positioning your company as an industry expert. This will help you to be top-of-mind when a situation occurs where your customers could use your help again.
Be relevant
Make sure all of your communication is professional, timely, concise and relevant. Time is something that everyone has a limited amount of and nobody wants their time to be wasted. The last thing you want to do is agitate your customer or allow your communication efforts to be seen as spam.
If your main source of communication is writing, make sure to proofread as much as possible! Even professionals make typos. Check out our blog "How to Become a Better Business Writer for the Non-Writer" to learn more tips about keeping your writing clean, polished and relevant.
We hope this post will help you experience the many benefits of authentic and professional communication. Need more tips or want to know how Rough Draft Solutions can help you create a realistic communication strategy? Please contact us today.