The nature of relationships between businesses and consumers has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. With the ever-increasing role that technology now plays in the day-to-day operation of businesses, it is important that you understand how to build positive relationships with them.
Today, consumers are constantly looking for new companies and are willing to transact with brands that prioritize them and go of their way to build strong relationships. Social media has a huge part to play in this, and companies that actively engage with their followers on social media tend to fare much better than companies who don’t bother.
All this is known as customer relationship management (CRM). It is an important part of running a business in today’s commercial climate and there are many ways you can make the entire CRM process easier.
Humanizing the Relationship with Your Clients: Good CRM
Every business has a story behind it, but are you properly communicating that story with your customers or clients? There are many ways you can communicate your story and humanize the client relationship for the overall benefit of your business.
Here are three simple ways you can humanize your relationship for maximum benefit.
- Provide a personalized and bespoke service
This by far is the number one way to build better and more human relationships with your clients and customers. By providing outstanding customer service and going out of your way to provide a tailored experience to each and every client or customer, you are going to be one step ahead at all times, and this helps to build strong brand loyalty.
Although it sounds like a lot of work, it really isn’t. There are lots of tools, pieces of software and data you can leverage to help provide this bespoke service and it doesn’t need to be too in-depth. For example, sending out an email to your customers on their birthday with a greeting and special offer is a fantastic way to humanize the relationship between your company and that customer.
- Provide products and provide services your existing customers want
Securing feedback from previous customers is an essential. Not only does it give the impression that you are listening to your customers, but it enables you to develop your products and services (and your company) in a way which appeals to people you have already transacted with.
Simply asking your customers where they think improvements can be made and then acting on their answers is a simple way to humanize your brand. Social media is the perfect place to do this and there is no shortage of people willing to provide their feedback. It’s free, convenient and transparent, and there are thousands of successful companies who do this each day. You should proactively monitor social media channels to gauge customer feedback. If you notice something cropping up more than once then that’s usually a good indicator that there’s a problem which needs to be solved.
- Value your employees
It often goes unappreciated just how much of an impact the employees at your bottom-line performing roles such as customer service have on client relationships and how humanized your company is. Your employees form the core of your business and you wouldn’t be able to operate without them. As a result of this, the emotions and wellbeing of your employees matter just as much as your customers’ and clients’ do.
By providing great working conditions, going the extra mile to aid their professional development, listening to them and always having their backs, you can be sure that the happiness they feel as a result will shine through – even over the phone or through social media – and rub off on your customers and clients. When your employees are happy they are ambassadors for your company and this does a huge amount for humanization.
Humanizing your business-client relationships is important. Consumers are increasingly demanding that they are provided with a tailored service and a product which fits their needs. This whole realm of business is known as customer relationship management and it’s pretty simple to do – it doesn’t require a tonne of work on your part and the rewards you can get out of it are high.
