Bebe Akinboade
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HOW TO MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS CRAZY…ABOUT YOU!

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As a small business owner, you find yourself in the unusual position of being grateful for customers, but not giving much time to them unless you have to fix a problem.

If you’re like me, in the early days of your business every client felt like your best friend and because you had relatively few of them, you lavished time and energy on each customer.
Twelve months later you rarely think about your customers except to send them invoices and confirm their reorders. You’re not a bad person because of this! As your business grew so did the demands on your limited time and energy.
Does this sound familiar? Your days are spent in a whirl from your first breakfast meeting to your last networking event. In between you return phone calls, process orders, deliver your product or service, balanceyour books and put out fires, just to start over again the next day. Your customers are lost in the morass of e-mails and phone calls and you realize you haven’t sent a thank you note since last Christmas.
There is a way to effectively build and maintain outstanding customer relationships and I want to share it with you. Following are five ridiculously easy steps you can take this month in a few hours to build your customer relationships.

PURCHASE OR CREATE A RELIABLE CUSTOMER DATABASE SYSTEM
You can create a system using Microsoft© Excel, Outlook or even Word. You can purchase an easy-to-use program such as ACT! Or one developed specifically for your industry. Be sure to track the following information in addition to your customer’s name, address, phone and e-mail:
Birthday
Other important dates (anniversary, company anniversary)
Hobbies or specific interests
Date of first purchase from you, and a running tab of additional purchases.
USE THE DATABASE ON A REGULAR BASIS
Set aside one hour each week and update the database. Use this time to add new names and information, delete clients that have left your service area, and edit any information that may have changed.
Send personal notes to clients who have milestones or important dates coming up. Spend 20 minutes on Monday morning to review your list for the next two weeks, or spend two hours each month to write notes for the upcoming thirty days.
Send thank-you notes to your clients on a regular basis. Put a system in place to remind you to send thank-you for your business cards or notes at least 4 times a year.
CREATE A SYSTEM USING CALENDER TO MEET DEADLINES FOR WRITING, EDITING AND SENDING YOUR NEWSLETTER OR E-ZINE
Your e-zine must be informative and address the specific needs or concerns of your customers. Many software and online companies exist to streamline this process, allowing you to write your letter well in advance of its ‘send’ date.
CREATE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SYSTEM AND BE SURE TO TRAIN YOUR STAFF ON THE INTRICACIES OF APPLYING THEM TO YOUR CUSTOMERS
Your systems are step-by-step guidelines that include each part of every customer interaction, from new customer inquiries to product satisfaction follow-up to customer complaints. When you provide consistent responses in every interaction, your customers believe in you as a reliable business that always provides what they expect.
EVALUATE YOUR CUSTOMER BASE REGULARLY
Give yourself at least two hours each quarter to look for changes in your customers’ buying habits. Have some stopped purchasing from you? Have others bought less and less, but you’ve spent more time handling them than anyone else? Have other customers that you thought of as ‘small’ started spending more money with your company? Respond to each of these scenarios within 24 hours of the evaluation and you will not be surprised by lost revenue because your customers were too disinterested to tell you they were buying from someone else.
Finally, remember building customer satisfaction is ultimately about the relationship you build with them. Set aside specific time each month to foster the relationship and you will have customers that are crazy! (About you).
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