H
ow should a business owner answer the question, What is the biggest asset of your business? The answer really becomes elementary when you ask this additional question.
Can a business exist without customers?
So, as customers come back to your business after any type of disruption, you must double your efforts to meet their expectations. And … their expectations may have substantially changed. They may be much more sensitive to how you approach filling all their needs, including safety and security, not just delivering a product or service.
It is crystal clear that how your CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS are reestablished after a business interruption will make or break your recovery. Customers, old and new, are and have always been the foundation of your business ... so never, never treat them like a commodity ... unless you want them to do the same to you. Every customer must be seen as unique and special. It is critical to recognize that fact and act accordingly.
Your customer relationships are going to be the number one asset you have to rebuild your business. By and large they will want to help you. So, focus on what should be done to develop and enhance your customer relationships. Help them help you by doing all of the following.
Constantly Communicate
. Whether you communicate by email, text, Facebook, internet posts, telephone, snail mail, or in person, all your customers want to feel that they are special and that you will take special interest in seeing to their needs. (If you do not have an effective digital communication system, now is the time to set one up.)
Establish a Post-Purchase Reassurance System
. Each time a customer places an order with you, follow up after he or she receives your product or service to see how it is going. This will reduce any post-purchase concerns and provide great feedback to foster improvement and changes if needed. (If you have not been doing this, this modification in your patterns will be noticed and appreciated by your customers. It can be the “edge” you need to generate recurring business in tough market conditions.)
Special Treatment
. Give your clients the best deal. Give them absolutely no reasons to have any future pricing, quality, or service issues or concerns. This may be difficult when there is a high degree of uncertainly! But it is still required!
Preferential Pricing
. Let your “old” active customers in on the best deals first. Give them the opportunity to buy your sale items before the public does. But do not stop there. Look back in your files and find those customers you lost and contact them. This may be a unique time to get them back as customers, especially if you can offer them something special. Research shows there is a much lower cost to reestablish a lost relationship than to find and gain a new one.
In your foundation planning, include a large measure of serving old and current customers in your tactics. These folks can help you generate revenue faster with fewer costs. Be conservative but persistent in this effort. Set goals for sales to particular groups. Assign responsibility to individual managers and work until you generate the break-even volumes you are seeking.
Build Trust
. Be as transparent as you can be with your customers. Be clear about what you know and do not know. People want to and will do business with ethical people they can trust.
Today’s technology provides great opportunities to develop and keep a current, updated customer list. Updating and reusing your customer list is crucial. If you do not have a solid system to track and communicate with your customers put one in place immediately and automate it
Know Your Customers
. If you have a solid customer list, you can analyze it to figure out how to solidify your core customer base. Work with your existing and past customers to create a new business foundation. They’ve purchased from you before and if they had a good experience, they will buy from you again. Set up the communications systems necessary to make sure your customer knows why you are different ... why your products and services are different ... and why you can uniquely and consistently deliver to them the “best overall value”!
Remember the Golden Rule
(Do unto others ... .)
Your company should be run and operated
as you would expect it to be ...
As If You Were the Customer!
This is always true … but when you are exiting from a crisis, it is important to not only operate in this manner, but for your customers to immediately and fully understand that this has been and will always be your overriding management principle! (You must feel their pain and understand their needs and address them.)