Business and technology have designed automated systems for customer relationship management, usually known by its acronym CRM. The problem with data-driven, computerized CRM is that it lacks the human touch. It focuses on quantity more than quality.
When you get right down to it, people transact business. That means you must exercise your social skills, skills that our immersion in social media and digital technology have diminished or relegated to the sidelines as inefficient and often unnecessary. Cultivate your interpersonal skills, because–like it or not–you’re dealing with people.
Clients like to be treated like people, not machines. Minding your manners translates into treating people with kindness and consideration. It encompasses everything from saying thank-you to every client to using clear language so your clients understand what they can expect. It can include corporate examples of social responsibility (e.g., staff participation in a charity event) to client-focused cocktail parties to secret or special clubs for clients only. When possible, interact. In today’s digital environment, personal interaction makes people feel special.
Writing for Business.com, Justin R. Brown focuses less on the media and more on understanding and communication. That requires knowing your market. If you have a service or product, but don’t know your market, then kiss your business good-bye. The market first buys what it needs, so what fulfills that need sells. When the need is fulfilled, the market buys what it desires. For instance, if all you want to do is communicate information, then a written letter posted through regular mail fulfills that need. If speedier communication is necessary, then the old rotary telephone works just fine. If you must have the ability to communicate from just about anywhere, then mobile phones fulfill that need.
People tend to forget that international business transactions existed long before mobile technology.
MTD Sales Training Specialists echoes Brown’s focus on personal interaction and blends that with digital savvy. They agree with others in advising businesspersons to keep aware of new developments and breaking news and information in their industries–and sharing it. That, of course, means listening to those clients, reading their blogs and articles, and making those mental connections that provide insight. They also advise anticipating problems and suggesting solutions before those problems occur. Some experts disagree, saying that tactic offers unnecessary solutions to those who don’t need them and shows a lack of willingness to understand that particular client’s problems. Offering a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem someone may not even have doesn’t impress.
Vin Gupta, writing for Entrepreneur, emphasizes knowing your customers (i.e., your market). The clients whose needs you understand and whose problems you solve will become your biggest fans and best word-of-mouth referrals. Nurturing clients results in retaining your clients and that depends on how you treat them. Do you treat them like people deserving of respect and consideration? Do you value them as fellow human beings? If you don’t, they’ll know and you won’t keep their business for long.
Heggen Group builds robust, feasible processes that focus on the people who execute them, not the technology. We understand technology is a tool used by people to conduct business. Contact us for more information.
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