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Build Authentic Customer Relationships

If you think that providing the highest quality service and products to customers sits alone atop stakeholder’s lists when evaluating your company’s reputation, think again.   Perceptions of corporate reputation have undergone a significant change over the last several years, Edelman’s 2010 Trust Barometer, hot off the press, tells us that building a reputation is as much about about honesty and trust as it is about product.

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I translate honesty, trust and transparency as authenticity, when it comes to building lasting customer engagement.  Authentic offers of value to customers demands being completely open and honest about what the value you bring to customers entails and more importantly, how they know they’ve received that value.

It’s not enough for your company to relate the potential value of the offering to customers but to have 3rd party experts or existing customers validate the value you bring.

Practices to Enhance Authenticity

1. Simplicity.  Make doing business with your organization a snap.  Easily understood offerings, clear pricing arrangements, self-service channels for those that prefer and rapid access to live-support when needed.  Ensure that every contact with a customer is as “one-and-done” as possible.

2. Agility. Customers are not impressed by rigid sets of procedures to be followed when looking for answers.  Build agility into every customer contact process.  Unwavering rules build suspicion.  Flexibility engenders trust.

3. Clarity of Expectations.  Use the magic question when working with customers or stakeholders “What is your expected outcome?”.  Ask the question when attempting to solve a customer’s problem to clarify quickly the organization’s ability to meet that expectation.  Whether it’s developing a new product or meeting a service request begin with the customer’s end in mind.  If you can’t deliver, refer to an organization that can.

While execution of these practices will vary the tenets remain the same as the underpinnings of building authentic customer relationships.

January 28, 2010 Posted by | Thinking About Customers | Leave a comment