The days of opening shop and waiting for customers to walk through the door with little or no effort on your part are over. There are so many people out there offering what you are trying to sell.
So to stay in the game
Know Their Needs
You are on the same social media platforms they are on, so get to know people’s needs. The things they talk about, whether in a negative or positive way, do give an indication of these needs.
Pay attention to comments on yours and other people’s pages give clues on what needs are not being met. So, take advantage of the things people are complaining about and try and tailor your product or service to satisfy this need.
Reach Out
Once they have bought something form you, do not let that relationship end there. Keep in touch. To keep in touch you must have a way of communicating with them. So always ask for a number, social media handle or email that you can use to keep in touch. Even if they have not bought from you yet do ask them for a way to get in touch.
Reach out every once in a while and try and get to know what services or products are in demand or are not. And try and meet these needs and preferences. Also, reaching out and making an effort to know your customer will build a relationship with your business.
When you know preferences tailor your communication accordingly. Sending the general posts and posters about sales and special offers can go so far but directly reaching out to customers and addressing them by name can go further.
Customer Service
Customer service is the face of your business and what it does. It is not a sign on a door or counter. Offer good service and people will come back. And make the effort to offer the best service to all your customers, not just a select few.
Keep to the deal you made, keep appointments, be polite, apologize when wrong, late or have misled the customer. Also, make sure that you get customer feedback. Feedback is the back bone of customer service.
Do remember that you don’t have to wait for the customers to contact you when they have a problem. As soon as you are aware of a problem ( from social media comments esp. ) reach out to them and offer an apology, get to the bottom of the issue and offer any support and assistance in your power.
Thank them for doing business with you.
