Knowing how to communicate with customers properly is important to the success of any business. Customers are the lifeblood of any business enterprise. Communicating with them the right way can make a dramatic difference in the outcome of your conversations. About 70% of top business executives list effective communication as one of the top three keys to business success. Being clear, polite and diplomatic when speaking with customers increases the chances they will be satisfied with your interaction.
Marketing Your Company Or Brand
Building a better mousetrap is not enough to guarantee success. You must be able to let consumers know your product exists, what it does, how it can help them and how they can get it. Properly communicating this to consumers requires choosing the right words. Images should clearly describe your product and your message placed within the right media to reach your target market. This is a very important step in establishing proper communication with your customers. You have to use easy to understand terms. They should appeal to your target audience and put your message on media where they are most likely to see it.
Direct Personalized Communication
Communicating directly with your customers using personalized messages is among the most effective ways to engage them and get their business. Research shows 90% of customers want and expect businesses to respond to their questions and address their concerns personally and in a timely manner. Companies that do so using social media and other forms of direct communications improve their chances of keeping those customers and attracting new ones. Failure to directly communicate with consumers on their favorite medium can cause up to 80% of businesses to fail.
Personalizing Mass Communications
Providing personalized service takes time. Providing personalized service to and communicating with a customer base that’s large enough to make your business profitable can be challenging. But it’s possible. Give each customer a personalized experience while increasing your customer base and your profitability through the effective use of social media as well as mobile communication. Even small and medium-sized businesses can do this and remain well within their marketing budgets.
Using mobile communication devices and social media gives your company the opportunity to connect with and engage your customers any time of the day or night. The key is to personalize the communications so they won’t be quickly dismissed as spam. You must identify the social media platform your customers frequent and use photos, special offers or any other format you know will attract their attention. This will enable you to be more effective. By opening and maintaining the lines of communications with them, you’ll begin to gain their trust and develop a mutually beneficial relationship.
Get Third-Party Help
Connecting with customers through mobile devices and the wide variety of social media platforms available can be a complex process. It often requires people with a specific set of skills. While some companies may have one or two people on staff with the necessary skills to run a social media campaign, it often means taking them away from their primary jobs. Instead, it’s usually faster and more cost-effective to hire a third-party agency that specializes in and has experience with communicating with targeted customers. They can usually be much more successful in opening lines of communications with customers.
Communicating With Customers Effectively
Once you have opened the lines of communication between your business and your customers, it’s important to know how to communicate with them effectively. It will make your relationship with them stronger and increase your sales. You may communicate with your customers via telephone, email, social media, text, instant messaging or any other platform. It’s essential to make sure your message is properly crafted and has the right vocabulary, tenor, tone and flow to make your communications most impactful.
There are a number of elements for effective communication that can help to maximize the results you get.
Active Listening
Being a good listener is vital for effective communication in person and in writing. For that reason, be sure to focus on what your customer has to say before formulating your response. Using certain active listening phrases, eye contact and the proper body language lets your customer know you are paying attention. When they have made their statement, briefly repeat it in your own words to let them know you understood their point before you respond. This lets them know their message was important to you. It gives them the opportunity to clarify any part of their message they feel you misunderstood and improves communication.
Don’t Interrupt The Customer
When a customer takes the time to communicate with you in person or online, give them the opportunity to finish their statements before you respond. Interrupting customers often upsets them and makes them feel rushed and disrespected. As a result, this limits effective communication. Allowing the customer to complete the point they’re trying to make demonstrates respect and lets the customer know you value their input and point of view. This helps develop trust and understanding. It can help strengthen your relationship with the customer and make them more open to further communication.
Use Easy-To-Understand Words
When communicating with clients, it’s essential to use terms you know they can easily understand. Using complex terms and industry jargon can confuse some customers. It may make them less likely to purchase your products or services. That’s why the information in ads designed to reach a mass market is usually written at an 8th-grade level. This ensures as many people as possible will understand the message and understand what the business, brand, product or service has to offer. As a result, more people will be willing to spend their money on it.
Use Clear, Complete Wording
The proliferation of texting and social media has lead to the creation of many popular new terms and acronyms like BTW, TTYL and OMG. These are language shortcuts. Never use them when communicating with your customers electronically or otherwise. While they may be acceptable among friends, they can cause communication confusion and make your company look unprofessional. Therefore, always communicate in clear, complete words and phrases. While those language shortcuts may seem cool and hip among friends, they can alienate many customers and make your company lose money.
Be Courteous
Many consumers are sensitive and easily offended. Making sure you are courteous when communicating with them can help to make them feel respected. Taking the time to be polite and professional with every customer will help to improve the image people have of your company. Many customers bemoan the fact that people no longer say ‘please’ and ‘thanks’. Therefore, you should make a point to do this in all your company’s written and verbal communications. This is one element of the high-quality customer service people want. Being polite and courteous in your communications won’t cost you anything, but it can help to generate some additional income.
Use Positive Statements
Positive statements resonate with customers and have a direct impact on their impression of a company. Because consumers want to know how a business, brand, product or service can help them. Simply using positive phrasing in your written or spoken statements can make a customer want to do business with you. Negative statements can make customers defensive and resistant. This creates roadblocks to sales. Your goal must be to use words that create a positive mindset and keep the communication flowing smoothly.
Find Out The Customers Preferred Communication Method
Asking the customer which method of communication they prefer you use to reach them, can improve two-way communication significantly. It helps you understand the most effective way to send them offers and other important information. It also increases the likelihood they will respond to your messages. Asking a customer their preferred communication method shows your desire to please them. Hence, it can pay great dividends in your business dealings with them.
A Variety Of Strategies
There are a large number of strategies businesses can use to communicate with and engage customers. An agency that specializes in the marketing business, brands, products, and services to targeted consumers can help you determine which marketing strategy is most advantageous for your company. They can create social media and direct email marketing campaigns. These can work together or separately to improve your communications with the customers in your target market. Plus, they can show you how to automate the process without turning your business into a faceless, nameless entity. These third-party companies can also help you optimize your branding and marketing efforts.
Learning to communicate with your customers effectively has a direct impact on your bottom line. Therefore, if your communications are warm, welcoming, easy to understand and polite, you improve the odds customers will respond positively to it and do business with you. Hiring an experienced marketing company to help you better connect to and communicate with your target market can also make a big difference. The ultimate goal is to use proper communication methods to build a mutually beneficial relationship with your customers.
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