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Creating your customer fan base

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Customers who think you are great are the best. They buy your products and services, recommend you to their friends and colleagues and, like a trusty partner, continue to support you through the good times and the bad. So hands up all those who have customers like these – not everyone? Then read on…

The key to building your customer fan base is simple – build relationships with them. Sounds easy, but as with all relationships whether personal or business, they require thought, interest, dedication and a desire to continue to ‘work at it’.

With personal relationships, these are things we expect and accept as necessary. But when it comes to business relationships, we are quick to lose sight of the value of a long-term relationship in favour of a short-term transaction.

In the business world, the value of customer relationships continues to grow in importance, as Customer Relationship Marketing techniques take centre stage and we hear of successes attributed to customer-centric companies and ‘learning organisations’.

But when it comes to smaller businesses, how many consciously plan to build relationships with their customers rather than merely sell to them?

To fail to plan is to plan to fail

In order to retain customers, indeed to develop relationships with them, requires a number of things:

• Know your customer
• Understand their needs and wants
• Exceed their expectations at every turn
• Plan and control your communication with them

The first three on the list may seem like fairly obvious, logical things to focus on. But to what extent do you really need to plan and control your communications, especially as a small business?

Surely you just need to talk to them if they have a question or send them some information? There is no doubt that all businesses require an element of this sort of ‘standard’, transactional type communication.

But in order to build trust, loyalty and convey the messages and the values that your business and your brand stands for, requires a planned, systematic approach to communications that ensures a regular flow of information to create an ongoing dialogue with your customer, however small your business may be.

When the dialogue is there, then you may be forgiven occasional slips in your service delivery, provided any glitches are smoothed over and customers made to feel ‘special’. Without the relationship, even occasional slips in service or will result in loss of custom.

Cherish your customers

Planned communication with customers should be no different from communicating with friends and loved ones. Most of us plan to call our partner most days, our parents at the weekend, send birthday, anniversary and Christmas cards, as well as dropping by Granny’s for Sunday lunch three times a year.

In the same way, we should plan the frequency and the type of business communication using the best method and medium to reach that customer, whether that is a phone call, site visit, newsletter or advertisement.

We all know that word of mouth is the most powerful endorsement any company, product or service can receive. Moreover, with the advent of blogs and other online self-regulating discussion fora, an opinion (good or bad) is only a click away.

As customers become more demanding and competition increases, good relationships fuelled by effective communications will become an increasing differentiator.

In short, by focusing on building a long-term, customer fan base, businesses can build an army of advocates for their cause, reducing the costs associated with creating new customers and boosting the bottom line.

About the Author
With experience in journalism, PR and marketing spanning 15 years, several business sectors and a number of countries, Kursha is Managing Director of Mexia Communications, a no-nonsense PR and marketing agency focusing on the business-to-business sector. For more information, visit www.mexiacommunications.com.

Posted February 12, 2007

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