Holding Power: Building Long Lasting Customer Relationships With The Push Of A Button

When it comes to your customers, be as inquisitive as possible, and always listen to what they have to say.

Building a Strong Relationship With Your Customers

Create a forum or platform where customers can voice their concerns and share their insights in a casual and inviting way, and always be available to listen to them. Customer surveys, follow-ups, comment cards, and interactive websites are all great ways to gather information on what your customers really want. Always remember, it costs much less to take care of your existing customers than it does to attract new ones. One of the best ways to improve and strengthen your relationship with customers is to make them feel appreciated.

Sending a thank you note, vouchers, or other tokens of appreciation for staying with your company are sure fire ways to build brand loyalty.

Using behavioral economics to improve customer relationships | Deloitte Insights

Introducing added incentives like a loyalty program can help market your business and entice customers to return. Although ongoing training can be costly, it is an important step towards building stronger ties with your customers and a better reputation for your business.

Features Luxury Business Leaders. Facebook Twitter Comments Print. Why Lifestyle is Critical to Branding. Click the button below to comment on this article. The process and objective are similar for all: Most often, organizational leaders use these models to help develop more effective working teams. But how does one assess the personality of someone outside of the controlled environment of an individual company?

While it still categorizes individuals into four primary types— drivers , guardians , integrators , and pioneers 2 see figure 1 —it can also be used as a springboard to incorporate behavioral factors and contextual cues.

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In this way, it can provide outside-in analysis that extends its applicability from talent management evaluations and team-building considerations to exploring how this knowledge can improve inter-organizational relationships, such as the buyer-seller relationship. Being able to quickly and accurately predict what makes someone tick is critical to building a lasting relationship with them. Whether a first interaction with someone is going to be virtual or face-to-face, there are many ways to get to know customers beforehand. Online tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and corporate website profiles reveal background information, such as their academic and professional achievements, but they can also hint at their personality and preferred interaction style.

Do their summaries focus strictly on work or do they mention outside interests? Are they detailed or to the point? Also look at email communications. For example, if emails are short and direct, there is a good chance they are a driver. Some people, particularly older customers, or those in certain industries, may not as be as chatty or descriptive as others. Additionally, some companies have strict guidelines about online profile content.

As with all relationships, the real action starts with the first live meeting. Beyond helping us form the relationship and interact better, understanding the Business Chemistry type of decision-makers also provides an idea of what cognitive biases—systematic deviations from seemingly rational judgment 4 —may come into play when they are making decisions. Drawing from the behavioral science literature, below are some common decision-making biases clients may fall prey to, as well as which types are likely to be prone to each bias. An action mind-set is the frame of mind a person is in when they are called upon to act.

There are two phases of action mind-sets: When individuals are in a deliberative mind-set, they are more receptive toward new ideas. Drivers, meanwhile, are likely to move quickly through the deliberative into the implemental phase. Conversely, while pioneers may also move quickly from the deliberative phase to the implemental phase, they are more likely to move back and forth between phases given their tendency to follow their guts and easily pivot if the situation changes.

Like guardians, integrators may stay in the deliberative phase longer before moving to the implemental phase. However, integrators may also exhibit the propensity to move fluidly back and forth between phases, and can change their minds based on input from various stakeholders. How should a sales executive adjust to work with these different work styles?

When working with guardians, be ready to revisit and revise the proposed solution until it lines up with their vision and priorities. With integrators, also be prepared to not reach an ultimate verdict in the initial meeting; for them, though, the next steps may require gaining additional buy-in from other stakeholders, as well as collaborating with others before signing off.

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For pioneers, brainstorming sessions—possibly many—are likely to be an integral part of the process. Another behavioral concept to consider is determining which types of information clients care about. This information can include factors central to the solution and the decision being made, called central cues , or those tangential to the message, known as peripheral cues.

Psychological research suggests that people are persuaded by both types of information: For them, the peripheral cues that may catch their attention would likely have to do with whether they sense the sales executive is competent and confident for example, good eye contact, punctuality, a firm handshake, and limited use of qualifiers. Integrators, however, take more of an interest in learning about what makes the person across the table from them tick: While the cues they focus on may seem tangential at the time, they may later draw upon that information during brainstorming conversations, as nuggets that could lead to out-of-the-box solutions not yet considered.

Finally, guardians may cue into factors that signal whether a sales executive is thoughtful and thorough for example, if they brought with them detailed background information. This may have to do with the preferences of the primary decision-maker for drivers, central cues or facts first, small talk or peripheral cues may occur later; for pioneers, the reverse , the type of meeting or phase in the process some phases are about getting down to business, others are more about building rapport , and which additional stakeholders are involved at each stage.

There, everyone is quiet, reserved, extremely patient, and they talk slowly. At my other client—a tech start-up—the environment is completely different. Much as the staunchest driver would deny it, we are all influenced by our history and environment: These pervasive ecosystems influence our thoughts, opinions, behaviors, and decisions. Just as different types may be drawn to New York vs. Savvy senior executives will surround themselves with a mix of types to help accomplish their various objectives.

It is like sitting in a comfortable chair you have already broken in. That is the same thinking people apply when presented with new products or services. Another common decision-making bias is the status quo bias —the tendency to stick with the current state of affairs instead of embarking on any sort of change. Our analysis suggests that falling prey to status quo bias is particularly prevalent for guardians and a concerted effort is likely required to get them to consider new options.

How to combat this? Consider asking the client to share some of the things their current provider is doing that they value. Then, challenge these clients by also asking what other things they wish their provider would do.

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This can open the door to other opportunities. Sales executives should continue to dig deeper through questioning to fully understand what is causing the aversion to change. Often, it is a desire to avoid a potential risk, which leads to our final cognitive bias consideration. Loss aversion suggests that many people are more concerned about avoiding bad outcomes than achieving new heights. Understanding what clients are trying to avoid can prove invaluable to not only closing the deal, but closing it in a timely fashion.

Sales executives need to ask the right questions to understand and determine which risks are keeping each stakeholder up at night. A failure to do this work can result in the following response: Yet, even when dealing with a pioneer, business decisions are rarely made in isolation; at some point in the selling process, sales executives will have to ensure that they are addressing any and all salient risks.

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Gone are the days of strictly one-on-one business relationships. What each individual wants, in terms of supporting materials and next steps, varies; a driver would likely ask for different follow-up actions than would an integrator. Sales executives must build a relationship with each person, and tailor the follow-up to ensure that all stakeholders feel like their needs are being addressed and they are part of the decision.

Internal communication and coordination are critical. As one sales expert explained, sometimes that could involve having a team member—or team members—accompany the sales executive, or even take their place for certain meetings. Companies are now having multiple people interviewing someone. Now when you look at decisions, they are integrating all the stakeholders in a different way—so everyone has a louder voice.

While a pioneer may be willing to take more risk, and drivers may be laser focused on performance, our experts are observing more and more of the integrator traits emerging in meetings with clients. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step. Starting the relationship on the right foot by connecting with the client right out of the gate is important.

Like all relationships, there will be missteps, and things will not always go smoothly.

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