Building a positive relationship with a customer


Lots of businesses run cold calling schemes and various other outbound sales techniques to build their customer base. This form of marketing is very reliant on the relationship you are able between yourself and the prospect. The more you work on the relationship, the more you should be able to earn from that prospect. There are many different ways that you can work on the relationship and in this article we are going to discuss various different ways that you can build the relationship up to earn the most money you can!

Regular calls that are pleasant and not too frequent

As stated, cold calling is a very popular method of building sales as it is the employees actively calling up prospects to hopefully drive sales. This can be very effective and can really boost business however it needs to be done carefully as to not get annoying. Calling too often would begin to annoy them which will reduce their chance of working with you. Call them once a month, unless they say otherwise just to check in, see how they are doing and ask how they are on stock and if they want more.

Getting special offers that they couldn’t get anywhere else

If you want their business, you could incentivise them to come with you buy offering them special deals and services that aren’t available on your site, in your shop or anywhere else. This will lead them to believe that they are being treated specially and cared for which will make them want to deal with you more due to the special service. Not only that but it can act as an incentive for people to purchase with you when they may be a little sceptical beforehand.

Free promotional gifts

Giving promotional items away is a very popular marketing technique with inbound and outbound sales alike. This involves printing useful items with your company’s logo and artwork and then giving them to your prospects and clients. This is a great way to build your relationship as if they receive a genuinely useful item like a printed tote bags they will instantly look at your brand in a more positive light. The second benefit is that they will now see your logo whenever they use the item, subtly reminding them of your brand and keeping that connection strong in their brain. Find out more about printed tote bags

Not all business

The last thing you want your prospect to do is dread answering the phone to you. This happens when your ring them and only talk about business. It makes them not want to talk with you and thus leaves them with a negative impression of your brand. Don’t be afraid to talk with them about other things like weather, TV, films, their hobbies or what it is like in the office as this will relax them and opens them up to be more talkative with you when you do go on to discuss work. This doesn’t only relate to cold calling. Arrange to meet up with the client out of work for lunch to discuss work but not only work. If they enjoy talking with you they will be more open with you about the work aspects and happier to spend money with you.

Bend to their needs within reason

Another way to make the client feel special is that when they make special requests, go out of your way to ensure that they get what they want. It shows that you are attentive and want to work with them which makes them feel special again and happy to work with you. It is also important that you bend a little to what they want as they may not want to work with you otherwise. They may feel like they can be picky due to the fact that you are contacting them. They may not purchase with you otherwise so it is important to bend if only a little.