Customer Relationships: Not Something You Can Set and Forget
There are some things you can set one time and then move on, confident that they will continue to run just fine without you watching. The dishwasher and dryer come to mind. The cats; with a little food and water can set for a couple days without interference.
But customer relationships? NOPE.
The needs of our customers change and evolve as things change in their life. Here is an example:
I started working out at the gym in December. Having injured my knee and having two ruptured discs, the exercise routine catered to those needs. Add to that the fact that I hadn’t exercised since Reagan was President – it was a pretty tame routine by all standards of comparison. I have been going and doing my weight training three times a week and the cardio bike thing ever since.
No change. No change in the routine. No change in the results after the initial results.
As a customer – it isn’t my speciality, so I don’t question, I just continue on. Until one day when a friend of mine expressed the same frustrations with his own work out and he took it upon himself to question the status quo.
So this week I did the same thing. The company didn’t come to the customer. The customer went to the company. The company had “set me and forgot me.” I wasn’t a squeaky wheel and so apparantely didn’t warrant attention.
I talked with a trainer who watched my workout and said two things:
1. The weight exercises you are doing are for beginners and you aren’t a beginner – these aren’t doing anything for you.
2. He watched me do my bike routine and said – “your heart rate isn’t where it should be and your RPM are so slow you could be sitting home watching television for all the benefit you are getting.”
Wow.
He told me how to fix the cardio workout – MAN WHAT A DIFFERENCE – and tomorrow he’s showing me a new weight training program. I think I should be afraid; very afraid.
But here’s the gig. As a customer – I’m excited. I’m now recommitted to being a customer because the program is being modified to meet my needs and I will start to see the benefit.
No matter what our business, we offer benefits to our customer. We make their life better, faster, cheaper, more profitable – whatever the case may be. However, HOW they use our services and products to achieve those benefits change over time. Sometimes annual, sometimes daily. But we will NEVER KNOW their needs have changed if we don’t engage in an on-going relationship. Asking questions. Staying connected. Being observent. Being involved.
Just like any other relationship in our life, our customer relationships require regular involvement. We can’t just set them and forget them.
So now I’m looking at my customers. How have their needs changed since the beginning of the year. For those that I write press releases or blog posts – do they need something else? Do they need something different? I’ll never know if I don’t pick up the phone and ask.
Are you guilty of just focusing on the customers or prospects that scream the loudest and let the ones who seem self sufficient, fend for themselves?
I really like your focus on the customer relationship.
I am a customer service trainer, and in training I reiterate the importance of the customer relationship. In this day and age, customer service falls by the wayside, but I like how you focus on the whole relationship, instead of just a customer transaction.
Thanks for sharing!
Monique,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. You are so right – we spend so much time and training on that initial interaction – IMPORTANT THOUGH IT IS -but forget about the ongoing part.
When I worked for Pearle Vision, I started as a store manager. When we dispensed the glasses we would invite the customer to come back for free adjustments. So few people do that. We’d say “next time you are in the area, come on in and we’ll clean them and adjustment – like a tune up for your car, your glasses need the occasional adjustment.” People loved that.
When the purchase cycle in your industry is long (people only bought glasses every 3 years) it is hard to establish that relationship unless you give the customer a reason to keep coming back.
Anyway – on my soap box – thanks so much for the visit and the comment!
Take care.
Deborah
[...] Of course they change and Deborah Chaddock Brown from Make or Break Moments wrote a good post Customer Relationships: Not Something You Can Set and Forget that brought this issue to my [...]
The sentiment is right in keeping with one of the very first building blocks of customer-centricity. That is, if you want a long-term client relationship, then you have to take a long-term, holistic, life cycle view of him/her. Solve problems and keep solving problems. Thanks for the great post!