Managing Business through Conversations with Customers

As a business owner, you’ve likely heard that it pays to be conversational with customers. But what does that actually mean? The truth is that every company is already having conversations with its customers—they just might not be the right ones. Your business can use free tools and technology to build trust, increase revenue and retain more customers.

Businesses that thrive on the internet are those that master the art of communication

When you’re running a business, it’s important to make sure that your customers know that you care. One of the best ways to do this is by communicating with them but be mindful of what channel you use, and how best to implement your message. 

For example:

• You should use email for newsletters, updates on new products or services, and other company news.

• Use Twitter for quick bursts of information (such as announcing new content).

• Social media platforms like Facebook are great if your goal is customer engagement—you can get people talking about your brand or product with comments or polls (or simple questions).

If you can build trust with your customer, they’ll become brand advocates

When a customer has faith in your business, they’re more likely to buy from you again. They’re also more likely to refer you to others.

This is why trust is so important; it’s the foundation of every successful relationship and transaction between organizations and their customers. If you can build trust with your customer, they'll become brand advocates—and that's something no sales pitch can replace!

The best thing you can do to win a customer’s trust is to have conversations with them

As a customer service professional, you are probably more familiar with the “call” than you realize. But what if I told you that it’s not really a call? A call is an interaction between two people and ideally it has a purpose—to solve a problem or address an issue. From this perspective, customer service is really all about conversations.

 A conversation happens when both sides take turns talking to each other and listening; however, there is also a give-and-take in terms of understanding their respective positions and empathizing with one another. This can happen through different mediums like phone calls or email interactions but the key thing to remember here is that conversations require time for everyone involved to be heard out thoroughly before any decisions can be made together on how best move forward from there.

Being consistent across channels is important for building credibility

Consistency is key. The way you communicate with customers should be consistent across channels and agents, so they always know where to go for help. Your brand will be more trusted if you’re consistent in the way it presents itself, whether that means having a blue header on your website or writing “thank you” in all caps when someone leaves feedback on Twitter.

 Experimenting with different styles of communication can also help you get comfortable with experimentations and therefore improve at innovating better products or services for your customers. Don’t be afraid to try new things!

Having a unified brand voice means you’re intentionally building a connection with customers

Brand voice is the way you speak to your customers. It’s what makes them feel like they have a relationship with you—it’s the personality of your company. Brand voice can be difficult to define and even more challenging to implement, but when you get it right, it's a powerful tool for building trust with customers, increasing loyalty and enhancing brand awareness.

 The first step in building brand voice is understanding what it is and why it matters.

Conversation-driven companies have better customer retention and higher profit margins than other businesses

Conversations are the most effective way to build trust with customers. And it's no wonder, as consumers want to feel like they're talking to a real person when they do business with you. The best thing about conversations is that they're more effective than any other kind of marketing.

 They’re also more powerful than ads, social media and content marketing—even though these traditional tools can have a place in your marketing strategy.

You can use contextual data to communicate effectively with customers and solve their problems

You can use contextual data to communicate effectively with customers and solve their problems. By understanding the context of a conversation, you can better understand what your customers are saying. You can also use this information to understand how you can help them.

Make sure everyone on your team understands the overall plan and shares the same mission

It’s important for your team to know the overall plan, share a vision and mission, and work together toward the same goal. That way, everyone knows how their contributions to the business are helping you achieve that goal. If your team has a shared strategy, then it will be easier for each member of your team to understand what they need to do in order for everything else in the business (and eventually outside of it) to succeed.

 It can be hard enough just making sure everyone understands what they’re supposed to do at work—so make sure to get everyone on board with a common vision or strategy! 

Takeaway

When it comes to engaging with customers, there are so many options available to you that it can be hard to know which ones will work best for your business. But if you follow these tips and keep them in mind as you create your own plan, we promise that you’ll see results. 

Remember that while technology is important in today’s digital world, it doesn’t replace the human element of good communication!