As CRO of Incredibuild, Reggie leads the go-to-market group and global business and expansion efforts.
It takes thick skin to succeed in today’s volatile marketplace. One task that has proven especially challenging for companies across all industries has been maintaining—let alone boosting—customer retention.
As such, vendors have much to gain from enriching and redefining their relationships with their clients. By corresponding with B2B customers as they would a business partner—with understanding, transparency and care—vendors can ensure they remain an invaluable asset to their clientele.
Nurture existing relationships.
With so many B2B service providers to choose from, it doesn’t pay to be passive. Standing out against the competition often comes down to taking an active approach to customer engagement and fostering a partnership-like relationship.
This involves valuing the aspirations of the other party–something that can be done by taking the time to thoroughly comprehend their competitive landscape, industry challenges and support needs. Customers are also price-sensitive by default—they need to see clear and tangible ROI.
Have face-to-face meetings.
In the wake of the social distancing of the pandemic period, businesses must now reembrace in-person visits with customers. Face-to-face meetings are naturally more engaging than meeting virtually—they can offer easier and more natural forums to discuss business objectives and ideas, helping transform a basic business relationship into a strategic partnership.
Oftentimes, until a vendor meets with a customer in-person, their business objectives and use cases may not be fully expressed or understood. In a face-to-face brainstorm, for example, it can be far easier to grasp the kind of solutions the customer needs and adjust offerings accordingly.
During a recent visit to one of my company’s long-standing customers, a bank in Europe, I made a surprising discovery: Previously unbeknownst to us, it turned out that our company provides one of their most mission-critical solutions—feedback that I was able to relay to the account teams back at home base.
Practice strategic engagement.
Customers are often reticent to approach their vendors with questions. Thus, it is important to observe and analyze customer behavior via product usage data and respond accordingly. Just because a customer is “quiet” doesn’t mean they should be ignored.
Intentionally or not, it’s common for low-touch customers to use a fraction of the tools and features their vendors offer and subsequently encounter problems later. In these circumstances, it’s better for both parties if vendors’ account teams address those issues before the customer experiences them.
When given proactive attention, customers have the potential to become significant partners.
Translate relationships into KPIs.
In order to assess the effectiveness of customer engagement strategies, vendors need to utilize activity metrics within their dashboard analytics—including the number of phone calls, emails and tickets account teams are responsible for. Teams that integrate digital tools into their customer resource management platform will improve their data visibility and, subsequently, their customer service and bottom lines.
Vendors can also improve customer engagement strategies by increasing the frequency of their business reviews. Most businesses conduct reviews quarterly, but including mini monthly reviews as well can offer greater clarity regarding customer needs closer to real time.
In addition to metrics such as the Net Dollar Expansion rate—which measures a company’s ability to increase the revenue it generates from customers—vendors can gain further insights into the overall customer experience they deliver via industry-standard metrics like Net Promoter Scores (NPSs). These are single-question surveys that ask respondents to rate the likelihood they would recommend a service provider to business acquaintances.
Don’t wait to start.
When attempting to strengthen customer relations, businesses need to reflect on the number (and nature) of touchpoints they have with their customers.
Consider the following question: Are we connecting with our customers regularly to understand their business strategy and use cases, or only when we’re trying to sell to them or remediate a problem?
Cultivating a deep understanding of customers’ business models, needs and challenges not only makes a customer feel heard, but it also can inform a vendor’s own product development and even R&D. Unlike passive customer engagement, active engagement fuels a strong B2B partnership—it gives customers a reason to stay and vendors the means to drive long-term revenue.
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