“To you, I am just a transaction.”
A customer once told me that, and it kept me busy for many days.
What did this person mean by that? Did I want further interaction with this customer?
At the time, that customer was right, because I just wanted to purchase something and any further engagement. Back then I was working on a one-time sale without tracking my clients’ data, without knowing their preferences, and without any intention of keeping them. In the near future, however, I learned the importance of loyalty and targeting customers.
Certainly, it depends on the company and its priorities. Either they prefer the one-time sale or they focus on satisfying their customers rather than short-term success.
Based on relationship marketing, I had the opportunity to respond more quickly to customers’ needs and tailor products to their profiles. It allowed me to build communication with them and improve my upselling and cross-selling techniques.
People who interact with the Assistant also interact with the brand, which increases the likelihood of subsequent purchase. Also, when an encounter exceeds their expectations, people give better reviews to a brand or company. They follow that brand on social media, keep up with the latest activity, and recommend the brand to those around them. Thus, relational marketing not only creates loyal relationships but also expands its brand awareness.
On the other hand, this type of marketing sometimes creates concerns and can lead to zero transactions. What is meant by this?
A relational approach is not built very quickly, but requires patience and time. Only when you support existing customers can they show trust and loyalty. However, this is a lengthy process because the company needs to respond to the needs of customers in a timely manner and keep their buying journey on the same level.
For example, if managers focus too much on one particular customer, they may lose sight of other customers and maintaining a relationship comes with the loss of three or four new customers. In addition, customers may demand discounts or be dissatisfied if once they do not get much attention due to high traffic or other factors.
This means that some customers prefer to get direct answers from employees or representatives rather than spending hours searching the Internet for information. Building relationships with customers is time consuming, and many employees will need to increase their personal time commitment to maintain these relationships.
The biggest drawback to relationship marketing is the expense. Providing value to your current customers does not always lead to an increase in repeat purchases. This is certainly relevant for a business that offers goods or services that will be used over a long period of time. They need to provide value to their customers, focus on their feedback, reward them and thank them regularly.
Is this a must for every business?
No. there are probably some businesses that do not bother with repeat customers and focus on sales instead of building a lasting relationship. There is no additional engagement. For example, a convenience store is just trying to meet the daily goal by selling as many products as possible without bothering about personalizing their customers.
All in all, I think communication and long-term relationships are very important in the marketplace because a loyal customer can bring a lot of profit to a business, whether it’s by promoting the brand or buying only by this certain brand. Regular customers can give advice on how to improve a business, support the brand whenever launches new staff and increase their presence on social media.
Is retention key to success?
