How Do You Keep In Touch with Your Customers?
By PChip | Category: Business Management |There are many ways to keep in touch with your customers. Plenty of them are free or very low cost. To not stay in touch with your customers is just plain silly. Make sure the communication is open from both sides of the fence.
Business Tip: Have methods available for your customers to get a hold of you easily. Have methods available for you to get word to your customers easily as well.
Mini-Taskers: If you don’t already have these two things in place, then take the time today to put into place a method for opening conversation and building relationships with your customers. Better yet - have 3 or more methods in place!
Need Ideas for Communicating? Here’s a Few:
Blogs - To assure two-way communication, allow commenting on your blog.
Feedback forms and Contact forms on your Website - These are basically one way communication tools. It allows your customer to contact you. Allows them to open the door for further discussion… only if they offer you their email address or other contact information.
Community Forums - The ultimate way to communicate with customers. This one requires almost daily maintenance and attention.
Online Social Networks- This includes networks like MySpace, MSN and Yahoo groups, FaceBook, MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, etc.
Wikis - This is a web environment that offers collaborative writing and continued information sharing opportunities.
Newsletters and Ezines - Ultimately a way for you to provide information to your customers list. Make sure you include your contact information on every issue so the customers can get a hold of you.
Contact Lists - Whether online or offline, keep a file of your customers and their contact information so you can communicate with them either regularly or periodically as you see a need to do so.
Information Brochures and Business Cards - Offer contact info to your customers and is easy for them to use when passing along to someone else your information as well.
Do you have more ideas about ways to communicate with your customers? Please share! We want to know.
Want more information about any of these methods? Please ask!
![[del.icio.us]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[MySpace]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Reddit]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[Squidoo]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/squidoo.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://dsd-professionals.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
Tip for Day 12: Don’t forget the power of personal contacts. Meeting face-to-face with potential customers is a great way to make a lasting impact.
It does help if you are outgoing, confident and attractive, but enthusiasm, talent, competence and having a helpful attitude are all deal-makers.
Look for places where your customers congregate. Local scrap store classes, meets, swaps. Work in conjunction with the organizers of these events.
Look also where your customers go that isn’t directly scrap related. Such places could be at the gym, other craft shows, maybe even a small event at a local computer shop my work. They may love the idea of holding a digital class there and get customers to try their equipment, software and services.
Running a business that is mainly web-based can be a lonely task. Mix in some real people in person and you might just hit a good balance and expand your customer base too.