We always ask and research why most honest and committed businesses fail the first three to five years. I am fully convinced that every business and/or person strives to succeed, so we tend to spend countless hours and dollars trying to reverse this trend. While we try to take advantage of the most current technology and new techniques available, the simple remedy to this situation is either ignored or misunderstood. The key to all success is, and has always been, not our product, services, or company but Legendary Customer Relationships.
To fully understand where we should be trying to go or what we should be trying to accomplish, our first lesson should come with determining what real “customer relationship” really means. We haven’t recognized or been trained in the correct procedures for achieving success that will help make a difference with our relationships versus what products/services we are offering our customers. So many times we are well trained and educated on all our products/services. but we fail to the see the “big” picture. We give out all our expertise and knowledge of what our customer is looking for, but we ignore the main part of the equation: our valuable customer! In short, using this example with the heavy equipment industry, if I can consistently see the backhoe driver, the backhoe will follow closely behind. It’s all about focusing on the main thing, our customers, to achieve the success we are striving to find. So what will make the difference is simply “Making the Most of Customer Relationships.”
Developing Solid Relationships
To wrap up this most important guaranteed concept, let’s take a look at what customer and relationships really mean, along with implementing this into our daily tools of success. Webster defines a customer as “one who purchases a commodity or service. An individual who has some specified distinctive trait or interest.” Webster defines relationship as “the way in which one thing stands in respect to another with a tie or degree of kinship, intimacy, or approval of whatever is tendered.”
Do we solely focus on what product or service we have to offer or is our main purpose to develop a solid relationship with each and every customer? I know the majority of people buy from people they like and are looking for positive, professional people who they feel really care about them. Some 86 percent of customers quit doing business with a company or person because of a bad customer experience, and 97 percent of customers who report being loyal to a company or person do not leave! Without a strong relationship, we will not experience overall success and increased revenue. By applying this principle for more consistent customer relationships by paying more attention to our main objective, you will make the most of customer relationships. Now it’s your decision to decide which path you want to go down.
Floyd Adler is a Training account manager at Signature Worldwide, a Dublin, OH-based company offering sales and customer service training, marketing, and mystery shopping services for a variety of service-based industries. For more information, call 800.398.0518 or visit www.signatureworldwide.com. You also can connect with Signature on Twitter @SignatureWorld and on Facebook.
