Is customer relationship at the heart of your company values and do you want to optimize it with modern and efficient tools? There's no shortage of methods for establishing a trusting relationship with customers in 2020, but it's even better to combine them all! Discover how to implement effective management of your customer relationships.
What is the definition of customer relationship in 2021?
Achieving successful customer relationships for a company is within everyone's reach, but can have blind spots, especially if its definition lacks clarity or proves incomplete. Indeed, this term concerns not only the sales phase, but the entirety of interactions: from prospecting to after-sales service!
When customer relationship management is complete and especially effective, it will constitute an asset to highlight. A real professional image, which will provide what's needed to retain customers over the long term and win over your prospects. That's why it must not be neglected, especially at a time when customer loyalty is declining.
Customer relationship management, a process that recruits
As you'll understand, successful customer relationships will rhyme with the development of your turnover. The growth of a company embodying the very essence of any entrepreneurial project, customer relations should not be placed at the bottom of budget allocations.
The latest essential customer management tools are not necessarily expensive to purchase, but require long-term investment in human resources! An intelligent choice, which will develop your business and create employment at the same time. Here's an example of the main tasks that will require workforce:
- canvassing
- quote preparation
- marketing project creation
- delivery
- after-sales service
- e-shop creation and management
- permanent monitoring on social networks
- etc.
Essential business tools
Companies' efforts in customer relations are growing year by year. Several reasons can explain this:- consumers need to be reassured and really want to know what they're buying;
- consumer loyalty is also decreasing over time, thus prospecting must be multiplied to find new customers;
- as online searches and purchases are increasing, it's absolutely necessary to be present on the internet, including for local businesses.
CRM software, a must-have for your customer relationship in 2020
This is software entirely dedicated to managing your customer relationships. It will allow you to properly classify all your prospect and customer data, from the type of orders placed to questions asked via chat-bot or the after-sales service phone line.
You'll thus be able to improve your commercial services for each customer, but also deduce a guideline for your entire activity! Thus, within the same software, it will be possible to establish a complete marketing strategy based on concrete customer data.
A website with integrated chat-bot
As internet searches have become almost essential before any purchase, there's a good chance that your website will be consulted before any order! Customer relationship in 2020 certainly requires good presentation of products and/or services, but also effective communication and especially immediacy! This is where the chat-bot comes in.
The chat-bot can work according to two approved methods:
- via artificial intelligence: you record the answers to the most frequently asked questions and the internet user will only have to write their question. You'll still need to provide a phone number in case their question isn't understood or included in the memory;
- via a sales representative: people perfectly trained about your company will provide an incomparable user experience.
A perfectly completed FAQ
A "Frequently Asked Questions" section is not outdated and will reassure consumers. It shows your complete transparency regarding the origin of your products, especially if it's very comprehensive. CRM software can help you regularly supply your FAQ with relevant questions/answers.
For this, it must be clearly visible on your website. Don't hesitate to create a FAQ tab directly in your menu. This will also lighten the load on other communication networks like chat-bot or phone line.
Dynamic social networks
Contrary to popular belief, social networks don't just allow advertising. They now embody irreplaceable levers of the most successful customer relationships. You'll first need to indicate the contact details of your various communication channels.
Beyond that, consumers use social networks a lot to ask questions, either as comments on a product publication or directly by message. It's therefore preferable that a community manager or sales representative can answer these questions: immediacy is often the key to converting a prospect into a customer.
An efficient phone line
The telephone is still widely used by consumers to ask possible questions about a company's services and products or in case of emergency. Once again, sales representatives will have a crucial role in the customer experience. If you still doubt it, just remember that a consumer who doesn't find an answer to their question about a product will go directly to the competition!
A significant point for your phone line to maintain a good reputation: prepare sufficiently in advance for particularly busy periods, such as sales or holidays. For this, it will be essential to recruit staff and/or extend your availability hours.
Good management of a company's customer relationships is one of the main keys to success! That's why it must be approached with organization and modern tools.
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