There’s one major thing that sets businesses apart from the competition. It’s the customer service you offer. It’s their level of service that sets businesses apart. Think about two identical businesses, if one offers better service, that’s the one most people will choose. Excellent customer service is the foundation of business success. But it’s so often an afterthought. So many companies pursue new customers rather than focusing on retention. However, customer retention is central to running a sustainable business. This isn’t just true in B2C companies. For companies operating in the B2B sector, it’s actually more important.
Relationships really matter when you operate in the B2B environment. You need to be sure that you keep hold of those clients. But knowing how best to do this isn’t easy. Here are some of the ways you can improve the B2B customer experience for your clients:
Understand Touchpoints
Unlike B2C customer service, B2B customers are rarely a single person. Your company may deal with several contacts in the same customer’s organization. These contacts won’t necessarily work together in the same department. They may not even know each other. This is something you need to keep in mind. Different contacts will have different touchpoints with your company. This means that you need to tailor your customer experience to the needs of each contact. So, rather than treating the account as a whole, you need to tailor different experiences to different touchpoints.
Understanding the different touchpoints is especially important when communicating with your contacts. Providing information to one contact doesn’t mean that every contact will be informed. Failing to recognize this can result in miscommunication and errors. Each of which reflects badly on your business. So, tailoring your customer experience to match the needs of each contact is extremely beneficial.
Putting customer relationship managers in place can really benefit your business. Maintaining relationships with contacts in each of your customer’s businesses is really valuable. You will then be able to give each contact the best level of service. This enables your team to fully understand their pain points and be responsive to their needs. This level of personalization is extremely valuable to clients. Feeling valued in this way is guaranteed to boost your client retention and reduce churn. So, it’s well worth the investment.
Manage Data Effectively
Managing customer data effectively is always essential. Keeping on top of storing the data correctly is a big consideration. This means you’ll need to follow the law to store your data in line with regulations. But as well as storing your customer data securely, you also need to manage it correctly.
Nothing’s as frustrating as a customer to find yourself repeating the same issue over and over. Trying to re-explain a problem to customer services repeatedly really harms the customer experience. This situation not only causes frustration, it can also make customers feel undervalued.
Avoiding this situation is a must to protect your business’s reputation. One really effective way to do this is by using the best customer relationship management system (CRM). All too often, businesses have their data in silos. This lack of joined-up knowledge is bad for both you and the customer. For your team, efficiency is lost and they need to deal with angry customers. For your customers, a lack of joined up knowledge leads to frustration and wasted time.
An efficient CRM system enhances the customer experience significantly. It also improves the professionalism of your business. When customers can ring up with an issue and have it dealt with immediately it delivers such a positive experience. An effective CRM system allows your customer service team to view a customer’s file and access information on previous calls. Having access to these communication logs means customers don’t need to repeat the same issues over and over. This provides a more positive experience for everyone involved. So, your team can work efficiently, and your customers get the best service.
Protect Your Reputation
Reading negative content about your business can impact your existing customers. Unfortunately, this is true even if their own experience with your company is positive. A negative review or write-up can cast doubts in your customers’ minds. They may begin to over-analyze your offering to look for issues. This is much more of a problem for companies operating in the B2B sector. This is because your customers have their own businesses to protect. So, they don’t want to be associated with a company with a negative reputation. The fear is that this will put off their own customers.
Spotting negative information about your company online can be upsetting. When you work hard to provide great service, negative reviews and articles can really hurt. Thankfully, you don’t need to just accept this and hope no one spots the negativity. Instead, it’s helpful to use a professional company that can work to repair online reputation for businesses. They will be able to work on removing these negative comments for you. This is essential.
If negative information about your business is left to circulate online, the impact can be huge. Your customer service team may need to answer some awkward questions from existing customers. Managing the situation as fast as possible is essential. When you take swift action, your clients may not even have the chance to spot the negativity online. This should prevent industry rumors from spreading and protect your reputation.
Final Thoughts on Customer Experience
The customer experience is more than just prompt service. It’s actually made up of a huge combination of factors. In the B2B world, investing in the customer experience is vital. While customer experience matters in B2C selling, for B2B companies, it’s often even more important. The stakes are higher when your customers are other businesses. These companies have their own reputations to maintain. This means they need the best service from you to provide the best service to their own customers. Perfect the art of providing an excellent experience for every customer, and retaining customers and acquiring new ones will be a breeze.
