The majority of all companies have succeeded in establishing satisfied customers. Happy clients are an enormous asset for companies and if they’re used in the right way they can generate an even greater return than just the dollars and cents they give to you for your products or services.
As we all know the mouth-to-mouth method is the best marketing channel there is. Social media has given us the possibilities to spread the mouth-to-mouth method to levels that was impossible just a couple of years ago. The biggest B2B companies in the world today make sure to utilize all the benefits with social media. According to research made by the Aberdeen Group in 2012, the biggest B2B companies get 230 % more leads via social media than their competitors.
So how do you get the classic mouth-to-mouth method working for you on your website and social media? With these 4 steps you become a professional:
1. Identify why customers love you and what they appreciate the most about you
2. Build a relationship
3. Ask for a recommendation
4. Systematize it and make it a new standard in your company
Identify why customers love you and what they appreciate the most about you
Why do customers love you? Is there something unique in your product and service that they cannot get anywhere else or is it maybe your high level of support? If you do not know what it is it’s very easy to find out. Just ask.
Keep in mind that satisfied customers often don’t talk until you ask them a question. Ask your most satisfied customers why they are so happy with you. What do they like with your product and service and why do they choose to return? If you do not want to call around and write down all of this manually, which can be quite time consuming, you can use a software that does this for you. Now when you know why your satisfied customers are so pleased with you it’s time to build a relationship with them.
Build a relationship
When you go out on a date you don’t ask directly if the person wants to become your boy- or girlfriend, you build a deeper relationship. This is also how you do it with your pleased customers when you want them to recommend you in their network. To start with you have to give them the worlds best support. Then you try to get him or her to be interested in your company so that they feel an emotional involvement in your success. One of the absolute best ways to do this is by customer testimonials.
It’s always good to have customer testimonials, they also help you to build a relationship with your client. Remember that the more you interact with your clients (for a good reason) the better your relationship gets. When you’ve started to receive your client testimonials make sure that you publish them on your blog or website. Share them in social media and enable for your customers to do the same. When they do that make sure that you’re present in the public conversation. It’s a win for you when a client talks good about your company instead of when you yourself do it. Your customer feels more special when you mention them on your blog or website and the readers get relevant information from one of your customers. It’s a win for everybody. If you don’t have the knowledge or time to do this yourself then you could use a software that does most of the work for you.
Ask for a recommendation
After you’ve built a relationship make sure that you ask your client for a recommendation. At this time in the process it should be easy since you’re not just a seller in the customer’s eyes. You know why they’re so happy and why they stay with you. You’ve given them world class support, the space on your website and in social media. It will be a pleasure for your client to help you at this point.
How you build a system out of this is up to you. There’s different ways to do this. Some build it into their product – recommend a new customer and get a discount. Some just ask their clients if they can recommend others as a service. Find out what’s best for you.
The key to getting this to work is to make it simple for the customer but also for yourself.
Make it a habit
Make sure you do this process into a new standard in your company. Make new customers into satisfied customers, and thereafter pleased clients into pleased clients who recommend you and talk about you. In the process you will get new insights about your customers, create good content, gather in client testimonials, distribute your services to relevant target audiences, get new customers, build your trustworthiness and brand. If you not want to have to do this manually, which can be time consuming especially for a smaller company, you can create an account on aajoda and test it for free.