Building strong customer relations is very important for today’s business world. Strong customer relations are what will truly determine the success of a business. However, knowing the impact that customer experience can have on a business, sometimes it’s very hard to maintain certain areas of customer relationships when teams work remotely.
Due to the pandemic, many offices have started their operations remotely, and a few market biggies already announced that they will continue to do so even after the pandemic is over. In such a scenario the obvious questions arise for those companies that rely on constant communication. “How exactly do we maintain a close working relationship with the clients while doing remote office?” “Will it be effective enough?” “Can we make it work?”
Here are some key factors which you should keep in mind while building a strong customer relationship process:
Some may argue that maintaining a remote client relationship needs a lot more extra effort, some may say for the long run it doesn’t work. But in reality, it’s not completely true. Maintaining a relationship with your clients while working remotely does not necessarily need an extra effort instead it needs a different approach. Mutually select a channel of communication whether email communication, video conferencing, or a discussion over a phone call or some other medium. Keeping clients informed and communicated is a must-do for a healthy remote relationship. Clients should not feel like being left out of the progress. Once you can get used to the virtual communication channel, gradually it will seem even easier and efficient than working from the office.
A company that transitions from working in physical office space to remote teams will definitely face a change in working style and processes. Transparency would be a key factor in this. As a brand, you need to assess how remote working is going to affect a customer and then notify your client of this change and its impact.
Building strong customer relations with prompt communication will gain customers’ trust and retain valuable, long-term clients, increasing revenue from repeat business. But shifting to remote working could affect your regular communication process to some extent. In such a situation, initial communication is not enough. You need to maintain constant contact with customers with relevant and clear information. But, of course, that does not mean bombarding clients with daily emails and messages.
Constant and clear communication with your client is a good step, but it won't be effective if you don’t listen to them properly. A common complaint among B2B customers is that the company representatives don’t listen to them properly and talk only their part. As we mentioned earlier, the company’s transitions from in-house teams to remote teams will change in working style and processes could impact your customer perception towards your company.
That extra effort will surely give you a brownie point.
Whether you have teams working remotely or not, collecting customer feedback is an excellent way to retain clients’ trust for business process and alliance. Apart from the social forums, custom surveys can be created to collect valuable feedback from customers. Always remember Positive feedback will build your brand, but negative feedback creates areas of improvement. Only collecting feedback will not work here, you need to evaluate the possibilities and take action accordingly to get more happy clients.