Building Good Relationships With Your Customers

by: Lynne Saarte

For any business to operate and expand, the business owner must have facilities and the methods or techniques of efficient operation. Although all these elements are present to a satisfactory degree, success is still unsure unless one of its elements, which is the “customer”, is present. This element is necessary for the business to grow and the salesman or dealer must continually be working on for the penetration of the available market.

Since business is dependent upon customers for profit and continued growth and expansion, it is evident that relationships with customers are vitally important to the success of your business. Today, business owners should be gravely concerned with this problem. Competition is very tight nowadays. Many similar businesses are overwhelming the market. This is happening in many similar businesses such as printing greeting cards, business cards printing, custom greeting card printing, boutiques, salon, health and beauty shops and the likes.

With this competition among businesses, you need to know some techniques on how to improve your relationships with your customers. Here is how:

Improve your understanding of human behavior. Since all the people in your business in one way or another have contact with customers, it is important to teach them to recognize individual differences. There is a need to understand the principles of frustration and emotional involvement so that irritation and conflict can be avoided.

Show sincere interest in the customer and his problem. This technique is one that can be practiced even by the inexperienced. Common courtesy demands that such people be treated with respect. In handling each individual, it is important that this interest in the customers should not be based on the profit to be obtained from him or her. For instance, someone would like to return the greeting cards he bought at your printing shop due to some changes in the design or have something to add in it. Show interest and courteously ask what he would like you do with the greeting cards.

Deal appropriately with the unsatisfied customer. Where there is customer dissatisfaction, it is necessary to find out the cause such as careless work, defective parts, or unforeseen difficulties arising from some type of faulty adjustment. It is necessary to make an adjustment satisfactory to the customer. On the other hand, if the investigation shows that the fault lies with the customer, someone must take time out to tactfully and courteously explain the facts concerning the case. Such instances will be helpful in making it clear that the store owner or the dealer has interest in the client as an individual, and offering him all possible help.

People are basically honest, and when facts are brought out into the open and misunderstanding is clarified, most people are reasonable, and they settle things by making a compromise satisfactory to both parties concerned.

Maintain personal contacts through follow-up. Some follow-up service is not only desirable in maintaining customer relations; it can be a source of profit for an organization.

Arrange extra special services. Still another way to improve customer relationships is to provide, whenever possible, special services, adequate warranty periods, and appropriate waiting room facilities in the service shop. Even a small service such as operating tips or certain economic measures will be appreciated by most customers and help build favorable attitudes toward the organization.

Lastly, make practical use of human relations and principles. A final technique of improving customer relations is to have the personnel sharpen up their practice of sound human relations. An aid to this might be the compiling of a list of some human relations practices especially appropriate to the improvement of relationships with your customers.

About the Author:  Lynne Saarte is a writer that hails from Texas. She has been in the Internet business for some years now, specializing in Internet marketing and other online business strategies. She invites you to visit this website.