One Proven Way to Strengthen Your Customer Relationships

We all know it’s more expensive to acquire new customers than to keep existing ones. Yet too many businesses grow complacent and miss a daily opportunity to
grow and deepen customer relationships. Maybe they forget that just like marriages, customer relationships need to be sustained after the honeymoon!

Make no mistake: maintaining and strengthening any relationship takes work, but it pays off in the long run, increasing your revenue. Our sales writing workshops show you how.

Strengthen your relationships with reader-centered writing

Most people want to be seen and heard. Your customers are no different! There are many small ways that you can make your customers feel special in your daily communications with them.

Keep your customers at the forefront of your mind

If you want to keep your customers or clients, put them front and center. Make sure you are quick in responding to their needs and requests. Be friendly in your opening lines; if you appreciate customers, let them know. If a company has made the list of top places to work, send congratulations. If a company just went through a merger, acknowledge it. Show you know about the business and understand its challenges.

Ways to keep in touch

Think about ways that you can keep in touch with customers and keep them up to date. For example:

• Send customers regular updates, timely articles, or useful ideas, but be specific! Do not inundate them with information; target your message to the audience.

• Introduce customers to people or industry associations that can be helpful to them. Can your connections help solve any specific needs they have?

• Reach out in small, personal ways if you’ve developed a strong relationship. One top salesperson sent her client a special hand cream when she learned the client had an issue.

Impact of writing workshop: from generic to customized approach

After attending the Write to Win Sales® workshop, a marketing executive changed her planned lead generation e-mail. Why? The workshop prompted her to analyze her audience more closely and delete excess information to feature only readers’ specific needs. She shifted her writing strategy to highlight the payoffs that would be irresistible to her targets.

Use the “you attitude”

When you write to your customers, make sure you use a friendly tone and address them as a person. Look at the sentences below. How would you rather be addressed?

“We would like to show you our newest XYZ add-on and we can visit your premises on May 17 or May 25.”

Or:

“Would you like to learn how the new XYZ add-on speeds up your development time by 30%? Might you be available on May 17 or 25?”

The word choice—using YOU instead of WE and US—makes all the difference! This is what we refer to as the “you attitude” in action.

Be respectful and courteous

A central tenet of reader-centered writing is respecting your readers’ time by being clear and specific. In any communication, make sure you

• keep messages simple and to the point

• use specific headlines

• use clear deadlines.

The way you choose to address your customers is a strategic business decision. Committing to reader-centered writing is a proven way to maintain and strengthen existing customer relationships. In our estimation, a vital choice!