Keep in touch! How often do we say this to our family members and friends only to forget to take our own advice? Yes, it’s true, we all live pretty busy lives. So staying in constant contact with those who are most important to you isn’t always going to be so easy. But when it comes to your customers, keeping in touch is pretty much mandatory. After all, do you want your customers to lose touch with you?
Of course, you don’t have to pick up the phone and call your customers every day. Not only would that not exactly be feasible, but it’d be downright annoying. You don’t want to push customers away by the strategies you employ to let them know that you’re thinking about them. It’s all about using the appropriate techniques to encourage your customers to keep you in mind whenever they require the products and services that you sell. Here are our top five ideas.
1. Make the first move. Maybe, back when you were in high school, it was understandable that you were shy. Being hesitant to go up and speak to someone you liked came with the territory of being a teenager. As an all-grown-up business owner, it’s important that you initiate the contact between you and your clients in order to grow the relationships. Keeping your sales up is all about making good connections. Don’t be shy about making the first move.
2. Be clear about your intentions. It should probably go without saying that keeping in touch with your customers isn’t necessarily for the purpose of discovering if they watched the game last night. Hey, if you want to work that into the conversation, go for it! But the intent of each and every one of your calls should be made clear. Know what you want from your clients and inform them of how you can help them to get what they want. Clarity is key.
3. Practice consistency. Although we don’t recommend hounding your customers, it’s important to be consistent with how often you contact them. You don’t want to give your clients the impression that they’ve been forgotten or that you only make “token calls”. So keep in touch through other means that are a bit less intrusive. Social media sites are all the rage these days. Don’t be afraid to make contact through Facebook and Twitter with your favourite clients.
4. Be patient. All relationships take work. So you shouldn’t necessarily expect immediate results. You may have to contact a client several times before he or she responds by making a purchase. Don’t concern yourself too much about why a client may not have responded to your efforts to communicate. Remember that everyone has busy schedules of their own to adhere to. “Good things come to those who wait” is a good adage to keep in mind.
5. Don’t make promises that you can’t keep. A huge part of any relationship – perhaps, the most important factor, in fact – is trust. If you make a promise that you can’t follow through on, you can pretty much kiss that relationship goodbye. Be honest with your clients and be sure that you can make good on your promises. Developing trust between yourself and those who support your brand will garner customer loyalty for the long haul.
At MeloTel, we do the best we can to never be out of reach. Not only do we communicate with our clients via social media, through email newsletters and through regular blog posts, but we make ourselves available around the clock at our toll free number, 1-888-MELOTEL. We also offer services to our clients such as Single Number Reach that allow them to have up to five different devices ring when one number is called. That way, they are never out of touch with their clients. Get in touch with us for more information!
