Over the past year or so, our business routine has been anything but routine-like, and that’s an understatement. Between quarantines and lockdowns, among restrictions and states of emergency, we were not really able to display “business as usual”. Now that things are slowly returning to normal (knock on wood), it’s time to assess the damages from the past year and to deal with them wisely.
One of the aspects which should be a top priority, if you own a business, is the whole field of customer relations. It’s been a year since you were able to regularly provide your product or service, and you don’t know which of your loyal customers had decided to take their money somewhere else in that period of time. This is why it is crucial that you enter this phase of “return to normal” with a solid CRM (customer relationship management) plan.
Step 1: Damage control
First thing’s first. You need to check on the situation of your regular orders and see if they’re still relevant. If you have some sort of database, whether digital or pen-and-paper, now is the time to pull it out and make some phone calls/send some emails. This is also a good opportunity to let your clients know that you are back in business.
“These people are waiting to hear from you,” explains Matthew Rogaway from Acticsim, the digital CRM solution startup, “and a phone call can do wonders. On the other hand, you must not be too insistent, since you do not know how the crisis affected each one of your clients and what their financial abilities are right now.”
Step 2: Plan ahead
You need to find a way to organize all of the data you have regarding your clients – especially their requests, or other things they expect being handled. If you have a small business you can do it the old-fashioned way, with an Excel spreadsheet, but for businesses with a large number of regular clients, this simply isn’t enough.
That’s where software comes in. Today the market offers plenty of CRM software technology solutions, which help you store a massive amount of data, as well as prioritize tasks relating to customer relations. Acticsim, which has gained much popularity in the past few years thanks to its cutting-edge technology and reasonable pricing levels, is one example of this type of software but you can find plenty of others with a simple Google search.
Step 3: Stay in touch
It’s not enough to retain clients. You also need to make sure they are satisfied with your service – continually. That’s why it would be a good idea to get in touch every once in a while and see that everything is OK. “A periodical survey can also be a good idea,” added Rogaway, “via email or through a web link. Just make sure it’s not too long because that usually deters people.”
On the other hand, you don’t want to be contacting your customers too often, because that might scare them away. It would be best to send them an email or text message regularly, just to feel the pulse. While you’re doing that, by the way, you can also add information on interesting offers and promotions.
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