The customer relationship aspect of marketing
One of the most productive aspects of marketing is developing and maintaining excellent customer relationships. It can be really easy to let strong ties to current customers slip as we go about our daily business of working on current projects and the search for new customers. However the relationships you have will your current client base can achieve greater results at a lower cost.
I’m not just saying this as a part of my own business. I know many of my readers are small business people and I’m also a customer of others who may read this blog as well.
We have made a point to actively network and attend meetings where we are in constant contact with clients and fellow business people. Not only does this give us the opportunity to meet new people but we are there to ask questions and provide a bit of in-person service to existing relationships.
In a previous post I brought up the need to remind people we know about new services or directions of the company. I recently had a conversation with an old friend who knew we did web design work but he didn’t think to ask us about designing a logo or some photography work which we also offer.
Is customer relationship management part of your marketing plan? They are tools you may already have available like Microsoft Outlook/Exchange that has build in address books an calendar features. Macs have an intergration between the mail, Calendar and Address book programs. More dedicate software solutions include ACT! on Windows and Daylite on the Mac. Larger corporate environments may use other solutions as well depending on the scale of your sales and client database and the integration with other departments, etc. We use an online service called, Highrise which allows us to have better communication with customers, leads, vendors, etc. What tools have you found most helpful in increasing sales to existing clients and informing them of new or changed services?
