Businesses are increasingly competitive today than ever before. In fact, the only differentiating component in services is perhaps the branding. Firms offering the same service have standardized to a point where there is little that can differentiate them. The customer can go anywhere — there is nothing different. When you are in such an industry, customer relations become your only hope. Here are four reasons why you need excellent client relations.
It Is Cheaper To Maintain an Existing Client
There is value in pursuing an existing customer. The process of winning a customer, a loyal customer for that matter, is long. If your company churns out customers as they come, you are losing an opportunity to make a healthy bottom line.
If it takes $70 to win a customer, it will only take you $10 to retain the customer. When you are working with a limited budget — we all are — it makes sense to spend wisely. A business has internal and external customers. Employees and suppliers are part of your customer base. If you lose one employee, it takes time to hire and train. The same case applies to your suppliers who need to understand your needs.
Lifetime Value Increases
Research shows that a happy customer will contribute at least 2.6 times more than a one-time customer. Other studies show that an existing customer is likely to order more in subsequent time(s), upgrade a current service, or subscribe to future communication channels.
It is also an invaluable thing when it comes to customer onboarding and retention. A longtime customer will be genuine about reviews. When you change a service or product, the person will help you compare the new service with the previous one.
You Don’t Want a Disgruntled Customer
No one wants to have a dissatisfied customer in this era. A disgruntled customer can vent his or her anger on you to disastrous effects. While a happy customer will go quietly, an angry one will not. Research shows that customers who feel that they had a bad experience with you are more likely to leave a review than those that you treated well. The feedback is usually about how bad your service or product was. A single negative review online will put off thousands of potential clients.
Before purchasing, customers check online reviews and ratings. They want to know what other people think of the product or service. If they find a barrage of bad reviews, expect them to stay away from your business. One customer can bring your company down. A marketing strategy that has taken years to perfect and execute can come tumbling down if one customer is mishandled.
To be on the safe side, you must learn how to harness feedback, handle complaints, or make refunds if nothing else works.
The product or service is wrapped with customer service
You may be having the lowest price or the best product out there, but if the customers feel you are less than perfect in how you handle them, you will always have a high customer turnover. A cup of coffee can cost anything from a couple of bucks to several hundred dollars. Each cup comes wrapped in different levels of customer experience. A great coffee maker can sell at just a tenth of what an average coffee maker does. Studies show that price and quality count for nothing if your customer does not feel king or queen.
If you correlate well with your customer, he or she will be open to discussing things with you amicably. If the relations are frosty, you might find yourself entangled in constant legal battles or be confronted by tons of online accusations of defrauding people.
Conclusion
It pays to have excellent customer service and relationship management. It gives you a higher value in the long run.
