Quality Relationships

A periodic marketing and customer audit are required if you want to enhance the quality of services and products that your business offers to its customers. Delivering top quality services to customers is considered the most effective way to ensure that your business stands out from its competitors. The main ingredients that are involved in a quality relationship between your customer and your business are trust and commitment.

Trust. Trust refers to confidence and security in relationships and should be treated as the biggest investment in building long term relationships. As a result of understanding and addressing your customers’ needs, any doubts of whether or not your business respects them, and is sincere, are relieved and demonstrates that you are a reliable partner. A lack of trust, on the other hand, weakens the relationship, and as a result, the likelihood of uncertainty and disloyalty increases.

Commitment. Commitment is yet another milestone that should be achieved to create a long-term relationship. Commitment can only be attained when there is trust and the two parties share similar values. In a committed relationship, both your business and the customer wants the relationship to last considering the time and energy needed to switch to another business or market toward new customers.

Other attributes that promote a high-quality relationship include the following:

Courtesy. Many times, your customers may not be satisfied with your business or with the product or service that you offer. It is essential that you provide your customers with quality customer service during these times. Delivering positive and courteous responses act as a catalyst in driving customer satisfaction.

Availability. Most customers prefer human responses compared to automated emails or messages. Hence, it is important for your business to be available to customers with queries and needs. Being available also promotes emotional bonding between customers and your business which is beneficial for establishing and building a profitable business.

Responsiveness. Your business should always have prompt, responsive, and experienced employees serving your customers. If a potential customer calls and asks about some critical product feature and your employee fails to properly explain it or is non-responsive, the customer would likely contact a different business who will provide them with the answers to their questions.

Current. Always remain current with, and ahead of, your industry and changes in your market. Strategies, services, and products often advance or deteriorate with time due to competition and the higher cost of innovation. Consequently, your business should remain current and relevant to your customers and potential customers.