Ask Your Customers What They Want

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You have regular and loyal customers. But how well do you know them? And for that matter, how well do they know you? Many small businesses make the mistake of spending all their time trying to market to new customers whilst never marketing to their existing customers. But remember that things change over time. You were probably meeting your customer’s exact needs when you started working together but are you sure that you are still doing so?

You need to talk to your existing customers. You need to ask open questions and then sit back and listen to what they have to say to you.

Here are some questions you could ask:

1. What else can we do for you?
2. How do we help you succeed?
3. What are your major concerns at the moment? What can we do to help you with these?
4. What new items would you like me to look at for you?
5. Do you have any comments about any of our competitors that we could learn from?
6. Do you know anybody else who could use our service?
7. How could we make our service to you even better?

You need to test out your new ideas on these customers. Ensure that they know all about your current products. It is often the case that you have developed new products that your older customers know nothing about. Make sure you tell them. Many sales are lost simply because a customer isn’t aware of all the products that a supplier can provide. The client may well end up looking elsewhere for a product that you cuold have supplied. Do you really want your customer talking to your opposition?

Your customers like you and you like your customers. Keep it this way. Talk to them, listen to what they have to say and take action based on this.

Technorati Tags: client relations, customer relations, Small Business, talk to customers

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