We have long known how essential listening to your customers is. The principle evolved over time and was christened ‘Relationship Marketing.’ This remains one of the most successful ways of growing a lasting relationship with your customers.
Relationship Marketing is the trending principle in the business circles. Marketers and small business owners are being advised to be innovative in forging creative ways to develop close personalised relationships with their customers
In a perfect business world, the company would know every client, their needs, and preferences so that they can effectively meet their needs. However, this is not at all possible in today’s world of online business. Today’s marketer, therefore, has to go an extra mile to carry out successful one- on -one marketing.
An easy guide to one- to- one marketing
To carry out successful one- to- one marketing, follow the following steps:
- Know your customers
- Distinguish your customers
- Utilise cost effective methods to interact with your customers
- Offer customised services to your clients.
Marketers know that successful marketing does not occur by happenstance. Careful planning is involved, and the implementation has to be precise. This is even truer for one –to- one marketing; the four steps must be followed keenly if the business is to reap meaningful benefits.
Know your customers
You cannot have a relationship with someone whom you do not know. The first step to having a close relationship with your customers is to know them. Take every opportunity to acquire the details of a customer at the first point of contact: call center, website or the front desk.
It would be great if you, for instance, have a caller id and the information of an individual caller is made available to the customer care representatives whenever a call comes through. There is no feeling like calling an organisation and you are greeted by your name. This is a small but very impactful consideration that goes a long way to making the client feel valued.
Distinguish Your Customers
Your customers are all different, and your services should not be a one size fit all at all times. What is the uniqueness of your clients? Different customers may even want the same service, but they may have different preferences when it comes to delivery of the service.
To meet the needs of the customers, know the specifics of the products and services that they need. It is not enough to have the product if it is not the shape, size, color and all the other possible variations that the customer prefers.
Tip: Always indicate the source of the customers’ bio data. This will come in handy as you map out future marketing strategies.
Utilise cost effective methods to interact with your customers
Promote your self-service channels and make them effective. This will significantly free up the customer representatives and reduce the time that they spend attending to customers on the phone. The customer representatives can then concentrate their time and effort on boosting the effectiveness of personal sales calls.
Take the opportunity of the time your clients are put on hold to promote your website address. Also, carry out a regular evaluation of critical elements for further improvement. For instance, the effectiveness of personal sales calls.
Offer customised services to your customers
The tastes and preferences of today’s customers have been considerably refined. Luckily, technology comes to the aid of businesses in this regard. Businesses can access all the technological resources that they need to address the individual needs of their customers. Indeed, this is what businesses ought to do.
Remember: This may be the distinguishing factor between you and your competitor. And thanks to technology, your customer will not struggle to find that competitor who is willing to go the extra mile.
So, whatever your marketing strategy is, integrate these four crucial steps, and you will, without a doubt, boost your marketing experience. Do not shy away from one- to -one marketing. It is not a foreign concept.
It is simply the notion of listening put into better use. You do not just listen to the customer: you listen creatively and elicit personal information that helps you to deliver goods and services to the customer’s specifications.