In a recent Entrepreneur article, John Rampton explains to readers “Why You Should Stop Wasting Your Time on Networking Events.” In the piece, Rampton writes, “If people will be there that have great ideas and energy to share, I’m game. But attending an event just to hand out business cards and get a stack in return with the hopes of landing a new client or important connection is not for me.” (more…)
Archive for the ‘Client Relations’ Category
Are You Wasting Your Time at Networking Events?
Tuesday, December 26th, 2017When It’s Time for a Customer To Go: Ending the Relationship on a Positive Note
Thursday, December 14th, 2017
Most people who have worked in any customer-facing role, whether as a waiter, retail clerk, or business relationship manager, have had to deal with difficult customers. And, when you’re working for someone else, you typically just have to grin and bear it. However, for freelancers and small business owners, you have some flexibility. You have the ability to make decisions about whether or not to keep a client or customer.
That’s not always as easy said as done, of course. (more…)
Avoiding the Top 3 Networking Blunders
Thursday, December 7th, 2017Networking is an important activity in any industry. The term has many definitions depending on who you talk to, but in a broad sense you can think of it as just getting to know people in your industry. It’s surprising how many employment, mentorship, sales and partnership opportunities come about just by tapping into who you know and who you’ve met through networking activities.
Unfortunately, we don’t always leverage those relationships to best advantage. (more…)
Focusing on Value Over Features in B2B Sales
Tuesday, November 14th, 2017
To a large extent, the sales and marketing world can be divided along two broad lines: business-to-business (B2B) versus business-to-consumer (B2C) and products versus services. Sales strategies for B2C services will differ from B2B services, which differ from B2B products, etc. There are best practices and pitfalls for each quadrant of possible scenarios created by this way of looking at sales and marketing. (more…)
Taking a Long View of B2B Customer Relationship Management
Tuesday, September 5th, 2017
Customer relations is a crucial aspect of any business strategy. And for good reason. Amy Gallo of Harvard Business Review writes, “Depending on which study you believe, and what industry you’re in, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.” The importance of customer relations is especially true in the B2B context. Typically, B2B companies are working with a smaller pool of customers than B2C companies, and each customer, therefore, makes up a larger share of revenue.
McDonald’s doesn’t want to lose customers, but it’s a lot less painful for McDonald’s to lose a customer than for Boeing to lose one. Similarly, many businesses serve both consumers and businesses. Consider a rental car or hotel company. They obviously have many individual consumer customers, but they also serve large organizations, such as corporations with staff who travel regularly.
So how do you maintain those crucial strong relationships with B2B customers? Here are some tips. (more…)
How Well Are You Realistically Managing Customer Expectations?
Tuesday, August 8th, 2017
A frequently quoted “formula” in the field of customer relations tells us: “expectations – reality = disappointment.” While this may seem simplistic, don’t relegate it to the ranks of witty sayings or bumper sticker slogans. There is a great deal of truth in this straightforward equation. Most business owners, managers and customer-facing employees have dealt with unhappy customers. It’s part of the job. But all too often, that customer frustration or disappointment can be avoided by properly managing expectations. (more…)
They Might Come Back: Why It Pays to Treat Exiting Customers Well
Thursday, July 20th, 2017
No company retains every customer they do business with. There is a natural ebb and flow of customers over time, whether your company provides a product or a service. Understanding that ebb and flow is important. Calculating the lifetime value of your customers, anticipating potential losses and determining how much time and effort to spend on prospecting for new customers are all very important elements of running any business. (more…)
The “Five P’s” of Social Care: Monitoring and Managing Online Chatter
Tuesday, June 20th, 2017In an article for the American Marketing Association (AMA) titled “How Effective Is Social Media Marketing at Driving Brand Loyalty?”, Lawrence Crosby discusses the numerous ways in which social media can be used as a great tool for increasing customer engagement and – hopefully, as a result – customer loyalty. Much of the article deals with customer engagement in terms of creating online communities and serving up useful content to keep customers coming back to your business through its various channels, online and otherwise. (more…)
Do You Know When—And Why—Your Customers Have Left You?
Thursday, May 18th, 2017
Every business will gain and lose customers over the course of the business’s lifetime. Of course the hope is that there will be more gains than losses; however, sometimes businesses find themselves in the opposite situation and struggle to understand why their customers are leaving. While creative companies could come up with a myriad of creative and complex metrics and measurement techniques to try to gain some insights, one of the best ways to determine why customers are lost is to ask them! (more…)
Best Practices in Handling the Loss of a Customer
Friday, April 14th, 2017No business enjoys losing customers. But for some businesses, it’s a lot more damaging than for others. A grocery store, for example, can withstand a single customer going over to a competitor, possibly without noticing any business impact. But a food distributor serving eight grocery stores is going to feel some real pain if one of those stores takes its business elsewhere. For some industries comprised of small markets of large consumers, there may be a limited pool of candidates to replace a lost customer, and often the question is, “can we get them back?” Well, it’s certainly not easy. Leaving a B2B relationship is costly for both companies because the customer has to spend time and money finding a replacement vendor as well as a lot of effort adjusting its business processes to work with a new partner. Consequently, they won’t be eager to switch back just like that. But in the long run, it is possible to win back a lost customer. (more…)
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