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Communicating with your customers

Regular communication with your customers is essential to ensure they remain loyal and continue to provide an ongoing income stream for your business. Think of it a little bit like 'farming your customers' - staying in contact regularly enough to make sure they are actively coming to you to buy - rather than you having to go to them to sell, or even you having to advertise to attract them.

What usually prevents companies staying in regular contact with their customers is that they find it too difficult, or too time consuming to do it effectively. However the good news is that with simple communications processes in place, staying in regular contact with your customers is quick and easy. It can even happen while you are on leave. More importantly it will ensure your communications are not solely reliant on your sales staff and will help establish relationships between your business and your customer, rather than relationships between just one or two people.

If you think about all the opportunities you have for'touch points' with your customer, you will probably be surprised at how many there are. We're not just talking about promotional things here, but every single time your business communicates with your customer in some way e.g. when you send them an invoice, when you phone to confirm an order, when you text to remind them of an appointment, when you greet them at the reception desk or when you send them your Terms and Conditions. These are all 'touch points' and each and every one of these interactions either reinforces or changes your customer's opinion of your company and may influence whether they continue to support your business.

Make sure all your communications present your company in a positive light and do not send conflicting messages. It only takes one piece of poor communication to turn a customer off.

Here are 6 Key Points to keep in mind when communicating with your customers:

People buy from people first

Whilst your customers and prospects may have chosen to find out more about your product or service based on your marketing, usually their decision to actually buy - or not buy - from your business will be based on their interaction with you, or your staff. How you speak to, greet, or email your customers and even the tone and language you use will impact on how they feel about supporting your business.

Split your customers into Groups

To make sure you focus your resources where they are most likely to generate revenue, it's important to group your customers based on their value to your business.

You may wish to base your grouping on previous spend, likely future spend, loyalty, or alternatively on their geographic location or demographic. At the end of your ranking, you will be able to identify who your 'A Customers' are, your 'B Customers', 'C', and so on.

Keep your communications consistent