Providing your clients with the best customer experience should be at the top of your priority list when it comes to the success of your business. It is impossible to win a potential client’s business and convert them into a customers without providing them with the best customer experience possible. Even if you do close the deal and win their business, it will be difficult to retain them long term without that great experience.
The B2B Customer Experience
Customer experience is all about communication and it is vital to communicate to your customers that you care. But first, you need to ask yourself, “What does the customer care about?” Knowing what your customers expect from your services allows you to ensure you are providing them with what they expect. Customers care about:
- Solving marketing and communication issues
- Getting top-notch service for a competitive price
- Making sure their timelines are met
When these issues arise it is important to remember customers are not concerned about your company’s organizational chart or subcontractors. They are only concerned that your organization, as a whole, gets the job done and gets it done right, on time, and within budget. When customer expectations are not being met, in their mind it is company failing. It is important to not put the blame on anyone. Instead, acknowledge the wrongdoing and provide a brief explanation of how it happened. From there, provide options of how to solve the issue and give your recommendation as to the course of action. And then – nail it!
Relationships
Customer engagement is crucial in helping develop strong relationships. It is important your efforts include emotion that resonates with your customers. For example, discuss common interests outside of work or ask how family members are doing. Long-term relationships are hard work. If you do not care about the relationship, they will not care either – everyone can be replaced. It is not enough to just deliver great customer service. You must proactively reach out to customers on a consistent basis to remain top-of-mind.
Customer-focused Strategic Planning
Many agencies look for what is most profitable and what’s the easiest to execute when providing recommendations to customers. But is it really the right thing for the customer? Each customer comes with their own set of market, competitive and company circumstances. Understanding the insights of each of these will help determine what strategies and tactics will work for the customer, and ultimately will be right for the agency. It is not just your customer that you need to keep in mind, but your customer’s customer as well. Your customer’s job is to make their customers happy, and so on. It all starts with the right marketing strategy that is integrated through the entire chain.
Bring Value to the Table
Remember that sometimes agencies become order takers and simply produce exactly what the client asks, even if it is not in the best interest of the bigger picture. Remember, as an agency, you are hired for your marketing prowess. Clients are typically going a thousand miles an hour, just like the rest of today’s businesses. It is an agency’s responsibility to evaluate the work being asked of you and determine how it fits into the bigger picture for your client. If the request is questionable, or you do not see the connection to the long-term strategic initiative, talk about your concerns or reservations with your client. Your limitations do not spell failure to the customer. Remember, your customers main concern is whether or not you can deliver on time, on target and within budget. It’s ok not be an expert in everything. If subcontracting to a subject matter expert allows you to better meet their standards, do it. Letting customers know you are using a vendor partner is not a bad thing. But also remember that if something goes wrong, your customers see only your company as a whole, and they do not care where the breakdown happened, only that it did happen. Customer experience is what will separate the winners from the losers. Provide your customers with an experience that will keep them coming back for more with this free download on empoyee experience.
