In the beginning stages of your business, it’s easy to give each and every customer the personalized attention that will make them feel valued and turn them into a loyal customer. But as your company grows, it can become harder to provide that same level of service to everyone while juggling all the tasks associated with a growing business. So how do you provide the same level of personalized attention while still using your time effectively and getting stuff done? Here are a few things to remember when striving to provide your new and existing customers with the personal attention that really makes a difference.
Automation Is Your Friend
As your client base grows, you’ll need to find easier and faster ways to get things done. While some small business owners worry that automation will make their interactions with customers feel less personal, it’s actually the opposite. Being intentional about what automation tools you use can help get specific tasks done quickly and give you even more time to connect with your customers. A few areas where automation could be helpful include:
Social Media Management
At the beginning of your business, connecting with your audience via social media is a great way to get the word out about your business. But as things pick up, social media can turn into a full-time job. From writing and scheduling posts to answering questions, managing comments and posting pictures, you can easily lose a few hours of your day managing all of your different social media platforms. Utilizing social media management tools can help sync all of your social media so you can spend less time scheduling and more time engaging with your audience.
Email Responses
Not every email response needs to be written by you. Email automation can take over sending confirmation emails, reminders, and customer feedback requests, giving you more time to write the emails that really matter.
Easier Finance Management
Unless you have an accounting team, you’ve probably spent a lot of time working on the company budget, handling paychecks, and expense reports. These are things that don’t require your personal attention and would be just fine (and maybe even better off) managed by a sophisticated software system or app.
Handling Incoming Calls
Phones ringing off the hooks? Instead of missing calls and possibly losing business, set up inbound call automation that will help you screen, record and track incoming calls. A standard voicemail system will help you “catch” the calls you can’t get to right away. Google Voice is a popular option for handling incoming calls. It features:
- Free calls within the USA and Canada
- Call screening
- The ability to listen to a message and then pick up mid-message
- Call routing
- Call blocking
- Voicemail transcripts
- Personalized greetings based on caller’s number
- Conference calling
- Call recording
- And more
Easy Ways To Provide A More Personal Customer Experience
When the mundane office tasks are handled by an app or software, you’ll have a lot more time to give your customers the personalized service they want. While your client base grows, there are things that you can incorporate into your everyday communication that will make your customers feel like a person instead of just an account number.
Use Their Names
One of the easiest ways to connect with your customers is to use their name. This personalization immediately makes any interaction feel more personal. Of course, you may not remember every name of every customer, but make a point to use their name in conversation whenever you can.
Sound Less Like A Robot
Everyone has been on calls with a customer service rep who obviously hates their job. When you’re on the phone, really listen to the caller. Make conversation. Be polite. Ask questions to get to know them on a human level (any plans for the weekend?), it’ll make the call more interesting and allow you to have an actual conversation instead of sounding like a robot.
Use Their History
For clients who have used your services or product before, looking into their purchasing history to see what types of products or services they use can help you make more personal recommendations for their next purchase. If possible, email coupons or promotions over with a personalized note based on their history with your company. It makes them feel like you know them, that you remember them, and that you are focused on making sure they get the services and products that make sense for them.
Keep Customer Data Organized
There’s nothing more frustrating for a client than being passed along to different departments and having to share their information, story, problem, and history multiple times. By using innovative CRM software that allows you to share customer data, employees can have everything they need to know right in front of them so they can quickly and effectively solve the problem or answer their question. This makes the customer feel known and that the company is organized and understands that the customer’s time is valuable.
As a small start-up, personalization and connecting with clients is paramount for the growth of your business. It’s important not to forget about the simple things that make customers feel valued and provide that five-star service to each and every customer. Being intentional about the ways you connect with your customers can be what transforms those new customers into long term business partners.
