Never underestimate the power of a client recommendation. When the people with whom you’ve built business agreements trust you enough to not only continue the relationship, but suggest that their friends and associates do the same, entirely new markets and groups of prospects can become accessible.
How do you get to the point in the relationship that your clients feel comfortable telling their friends and associates about your services? Do you have a system in place that guarantees top-notch customer service while priming your clients to make recommendations or introductions later on? Have you made the customer experience a priority not only as a tactic for keeping the clients you have, but as a business-building strategy?
Delivering high-quality client experiences can serve as a marketing tool, making prospects not only aware of your existence, but also why they should consider a relationship with you. One focus in our coaching is learning how to interact with clients in a way that makes them feel valued and special, every time. It’s not enough to just be a great salesperson. Even before the deal is closed, you need to be nurturing and deepening the client relationship by investing time and/or money in providing the best customer experience possible.
Forrester Research released a study earlier this year that investigated the monetary benefits of devoting additional resources to improving how the customer feels when interacting with a company. The good news is: There’s a payoff in paying more attention to your clients’ experiences.
“The Business Impact of Customer Experience, 2012” found that when companies offer a better customer experience, their clients tend to be more loyal, a development that can result in longer-lasting relationships, greater recommendations and increased revenues. For hotels and wireless service providers that made the issue a priority, revenues benefited from a $1.3 billion boost.
The boon to profits is not short-lived. “When your customers like the experience you deliver, they’re more likely to consider you for another purchase and recommend you to others,” Megan Burns writes. “They’re also less likely to switch their business away to a competitor. These improved loyalty scores translate into more actual repeat purchases, more prospects influenced to buy through positive word of mouth, and less revenue lost to churn.”
