When you have made your first sales, you need to concentrate on retaining those customers through quality service. The process begins immediately with order acknowledgement and regular updates on progress. You need to have efficient processes for handling inquiries, orders and sales administration, as well as a method for reviewing performance and customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers tend to be loyal and form a basis for growth through repeat business.
Welcome new customers – By acknowledging and welcoming new customers, you can start to build relationships that could lead to long-term loyalty. A simple order acknowledgement may be sufficient, but you can also offer the customer a reward for choosing your business.
Confirm order details – To avoid any errors, confirm all the details of the order, including price, quantity, specification, delivery schedule and contact information. This helps demonstrate efficiency.
Update customers on progress – Keeping customers updated on progress of production and delivery demonstrates professionalism. Use email for routine administrative communications.
Set up a convenient point of contact – To handle customers’ inquiries, orders or service requests, it’s important to provide full contact details and allocate responsibility for handling contact. A helpdesk or single number for contact makes it easy and convenient for customers to contact you.
Establish response times – Research indicates that customers view prompt response as a priority. You should establish response times for dealing with different types of inquiry. Responding to reports of product failures, for example, would take priority over responding to sales inquiries. You should also include an escalation procedure for dealing with serious customer problems.
Follow-up after delivery – It’s important to check that customers are satisfied with their purchase. A follow-up email thanking customers for their business and asking if they had any problems demonstrates customer focus.
Rate our customer service – Feedback from customers can help you improve the standards of service you offer. A simple questionnaire asking customers to rate different aspects of service such as accuracy, speed of response, delivery and packaging can provide useful input.
Hold a review meeting - Holding a review meeting with customers after delivery can provide you with more detailed feedback and strengthen relationships. The meeting can cover product or service performance, as well as standards of customer service.
Focus on customer satisfaction – Customer satisfaction levels are an important metric of overall business performance. By monitoring all types of feedback from customers, you can assess how well your business is performing in terms of its product offer and quality of service.