Customer Relationships Produce Results

You could have the best product on the market at the lowest price however without customers your business is dead in the water. Building good customer relationships take time and a bit of effort but it is well worth it in the end.

According to Corie Wallace, Sales and Marketing strategist, building a relationship with a customer is one of the most important functions of becoming not only successful in sales but also in building a loyal customer base.

Good customer relationships impact your bottom line and turn red ink into black by creating a swarm of returning customers. Building Customer relationships is one of the techniques that Wallace has used to increase one companies sales by 40% over the previous year.

How do you build a good customer relationship? Customer relationships begin the moment a customer walks into your store or opens one of your marketing emails. Within the first few seconds your potential customer has already began to evaluate whether or not you are the type of person that they can relate to on a personal level.

Once you begin to establish a rapport with your prospective buyer do you try to assess their needs or do you just focus on the quick sale. According to Corie Wallace, you should begin by establishing a dialog that focuses on the customers needs and wants by being truthful in your assessment.

Not every person who walks through your door or opens your marketing piece is going to buy what you have to sell today. Today is the operative term because if you have done your relationship building correctly your customer will find value in doing business with you if not today but sometime in the future.

That is right, the future. Your business needs don't operate only on the needs today but also on your future needs same as every customer you approach. The business careers of those who plan on grabbing every prospect and turning them into a customer usually don't remain in business very long nor do they have good customer relationships.

How many times have you patronized a store if you could not establish a minimal relationship with the salesman? Perhaps you bought on price but price alone is not always what does the job.

Mom and Pop stores were perfect examples of businesses that capitalized on building good customer relationships until the large chain stores smothered them with the lures of guaranteed low pricing. Low prices will draw a certain type of customer to you if your business plan is to sell inexpensive goods at lower margins however it leaves many customers unsatisfied.

Lower prices means lower margins which translates into low wage employees that aren't skilled in customer service. Think about your own frustration with the lack of satisfactory customer oriented businesses.

There is a an emerging trend among some of the chains that are trying to bring back that "Mom and Pop" feel to the traditional "box store" mentality. When asked about this trend Corie Wallace explained that while in some cases a business can get away with just shoving general merchandise out the door at rock bottom pricing an increasing number of businesses have taken a clue from specialty shops and are hiring skilled and knowledgeable sales persons called "Specialists" to provide their customers with enough good product information to become informed consumers.

That trend has not only increase current sales but has also increased profits margins and the number of customers returning to the store (customer loyalty) proving that by improving the customers shopping experience you can impact your bottom line. By creating good customer relationships that produce your business is able to sell at a higher margin which allows you to remove the stress of high pressure sales while increasing customer satisfaction. After all isn't that what it is all about, building a business that is able to transcend the many economic challenges, providing you the fuel for your passions and building a base of satisfied customers?

Catch the wave, treat each sale like the first of many and build a good customer relationship with every opportunity. Remember there is no second chance to make a first impression - Make your's count.

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