Make the Connection: Surefire tactics to boost customer relationships

In today’s tough economy, it’s no longer enough to generate great ideas for your growing business. To get ahead, you have to communicate effectively to customers as part of the relationship marketing process. That means connecting on an emotional level. “You have to learn to show your value,” says Maribeth Kuzmeski, author of The Connectors: How the World’s Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life. “With the right tactics, you can change the way you develop relationships and forge a network of [customers] who will stick with you through thick and thin — and, best of all, voluntarily recommend your [company] to others.”

Kuzmeski recommends these tips for customer relationship building:

1. Make the right connections. There’s no need to become best friends with every single person you meet. Instead, think about the people with whom it’s important for you to become well acquainted in order to create loyal customers and build a successful business. Consider clients and vendors, coworkers and leaders. Then jot down some ideas for reaching out to each of these people.

2. Set yourself up for connecting success. The next time you want to build a relationship with a customer, meet one-on-one, perhaps over lunch at a quiet restaurant, rather than in a big group. When you put yourself in an environment that makes it easier to connect, you will forge deeper relationships.

3. Remember, it’s not about you. Instead of asking, “What’s in it for me?” you need to ask, “What’s in it for them?” When customers know that they matter to you, their attitudes toward you change, their respect for you grows, and they’ll be aligned with your goals. It means humbling yourself and, at times, sacrificing your own desires and needs. In the end, though, you’ll reap the rewards.

4. Don’t just network, work your network. These days, technology makes networking almost too easy. Social media tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter enable anyone to build and maintain an impressively large web of business relationships. However, like a full but dusty Rolodex, a large online network doesn’t do you much good simply by existing. To truly leverage the business connections you make, you have to put in some effort. That includes following up after a meeting, call, or contact and reaching out to existing contacts on a periodic basis.

5. Make emotional connections. When getting to know a customer, try to understand where that person is coming from as completely as you can. For example, if you’re a financial advisor, instead of simply presenting a numbers-based plan, you might first ask questions about your customer’s family: What is her personality like? How does she handle money? By connecting emotionally with people, you build trust.