Yesterday I discussed building relationships in your business. Home based businesses can be difficult to grow because people are never sure if you will remain in business through the long-term. Building relationships in your business is an important way to assure your customer base that you are committed to remaining in business.
Another important aspect of relationship building is respecting your customer base. Not only do you need to earn and develop trust from your customers, but you need to respect them. The respect I am referring to is not just being polite to your customers, but in respecting what they need, what they are looking for, who they are and where they have come from. Your customers may like you for your ability to keep your promises and your products, but if you do not listen and respect what your customer's needs are, they will not stay around long.
It is critical to listen to your customers. You need to learn to more than just listen to the words that they are saying, you need to hear what they are trying to relay. Sometimes it is hard for a customer to explain what they really want or need. You need to learn to become an active listener and learn to "read between the lines". This is not an easy technique to learn, but it will pay dividends in the long run. You will learn to listen to your customer and understand what they need even before they fully realize what their need is. To be an active listener, you need to put your own thoughts on hold and really, really pay attention to what is being said to you.
I know that many times when a customer is talking, your mind is already leaping ahead in anticipation of answering the question, even before the question has been completely stated by your customer. If you are already formulating an answer before the customer is done talking, then you are not fully paying attention to what the customer is trying to tell you. To actively listen, you must put your thoughts aside, listen fully to the question or situation, and then when they are done talking, that is when you begin the formulation of your answer. The customer would more than likely appreciate the pause before you came out with a possible solution. The pause gives you time to formulate a complete answer and also as a secondary benefit, not appear that you are a "know-it-all". Haven't you ever felt that occasion when you asked a question and received an immediate response and thought that perhaps the person responding really didn't listen to what you were asking and that the quick answer you got was not fully appropriate for your particular situation?
That could be how your customers feel if you give a quick answer to their question. I am not referring to the questions about where a particular item can be found, or if you carry a specific product, but am referring to the questions that are a little more vague. You may have a customer ask for a type of product that you don't carry, but, if you wait and listen to the end of their question, there may be an opportunity to show the customer something that would better fit their needs. You don't know, if you don't listen actively to your customers. You may find it helpful to rephrase the customer's question before providing an answer to be sure that you have the full gist of the customer's need.
By actively listening to your customers, you are showing them respect. You are respecting their intelligence, their ability to communicate, and the time the customer is taking to talk with you. That type of respect will also be remembered by your customers and will be relayed to their friends. This is another great way to solidly develop your business.
Growing your business for the long term is time consuming, and fairly work intensive. But the advantage is that your business will continue to grow, maybe slowly, but solidly over the long term. In time you will be amazed at how you developed such a strong and reliable customer base and realise that the customer support is not just for the products that you supply, but the intangible items you provide: honesty, respect, and integrity.
Until tomorrow...
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