Everybody needs personal contact and the deeper understanding that this produces. Business owners thrive on it. Customers keep coming back because of it. Yet in our hectic days, how do we maintain those personal contacts?
Did you know that 70 percent of customers who defect to another business say they do so because they did not receive personal attention?
What would a tool be worth that enables you to keep track of who has communicated with you — or not — over the last 30 or 60 days? Which customer prefers phone calls, and who prefers email touches? Who responds to sales, and who likes insider information about new products?
You can gather and utilize a lot of client-specific information with a customer relationship management (CRM) system. This information improves your ability to generate value to the customer and thus revenue without losing the personal touch.
For instance, an Information Technology firm, identifies the hardware and software products that customers have purchased along with the related training classes. They discover new insights about their customer’s business and can engage more resources whether from them or a business partner to further the business value delivered to their customer.
A commercial paint manufacturer has an extensive customer quoting process that determines the exact specifications of customized products through a process of active listening and providing useful paint samples. The notes of the conversations are recorded in the CRM system. Having a thorough understanding of the final product environment for the paint solidifies the customer relationship and retains profitable customers. The CRM system equips this business with these capabilities.
In today’s economic climate, the business owner who maintains personal contact and provides exceptional value with clients wins.
Every successful business needs a business development system to track details so time and energy remain for person-to-person contacts as well as for planning. A good system is the autonomous nerve center of your firm.
Healthy people don’t have to think about breathing or digesting food. Our autonomous nervous system takes care of that, leaving us free to think about how we want to live. In the same way, robust systems support the way you want to do business.
