Building trust-oriented business relationships at every point of contact
Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth. #13 – Identify every point of contact with your customers. Assure that every employee that has personal contact with a customer or can influence a customer relationship is trained and equipped to engage them in a trust-oriented relationship with your company.
Frequently I drive across a massive suspension bridge built around 1944 that spans a mile-long stretch of the Illinois River. Usually I don’t give it thought; just drive to go from one side to the other. It’s rather mundane and I’m anxious to get to my destination.
As I drove over the suspension bridge the last time, I saw it differently. I noticed that every girder, every bolt and every rivet was precisely engineered and placed to allow me to traverse across the river from one side to the other side, safely and securely.
A suspension bridge is supported over a chasm by many points of contact as it moves away from the safety of terra firma and into the riskiest part, the center. As you walk or drive across the bridge, every point of contact with the underlying floor is supported by the whole structure. It’s a fully integrated system to take me from point A to point B.
A well-made bridge eliminates fear and increases trust–giving you confidence to take the next step. A rickety bridge with gaps and inconsistencies can be, well, heart-stopping.
Are you aware of the needs, frustrations or fears that your customers holds before they make a decision to buy? Do you know why they might feel more confident to try your competitor rather than you?
Our best-practice clients have mapped the many points of contact they have with customers. Like a bridge, they know when and how to build confidence, trust, and can guide a customer from no engagement to advocacy on the other side. They take advantage of each point of contact to support their customers’ pathway and minimize their risk.
Do you know every point of customer contact in your organization?
Recently a client came to us with little understanding of how their clients engage with them. They have a great product and great people, but they are not able to engage, communicate and reinforce value. The result is slow, spotty, unpredictable growth. And their people are lost to know how to fix it.
It’s really quite simple. Your team is guiding your customers step by step across a bridge leading to their satisfaction and advocacy. Are you doing that intentionally, or accidentally?
There are two aspects to creating best-in-class customer engagement.
First, do you know where every touchpoint occurs– with whom and what your customers are looking for at that touch point? There are likely touchpoints you’re missing.
To be successful, map every point of contact with your customers and know precisely how to engage, build their trust, and reinforce your value. You want them to come back and, even more, to tell their peers about this great new solution they’ve found.
Secondly, equip your employees at the various touchpoints to know precisely what your customers need when they communicate with them, how to support them, and how to make sure the customer leaves sold on your unique value?
A lot of people spent a lot of time and money to help me cross that river. They considered every inch of my journey, engineered every point of contact, and made sure I got to the other side successfully to reach my destination. I’m grateful for their help.
If you’re not intentionally engaging and supporting your customers at every point of contact, your customers are falling through the cracks. As a result, you’re losing customers, extending your sales cycle, short-changing yourself and losing margin.
Build your bridge to faster, more profitable growth by creating better engagement at every point of contact.
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The Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth. Over many years and hundreds of client relationships and strategic marketing opportunities, we have established the Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth, best practices that build trust, align values with products and practices, and create organic growth. We are exploring these 35 practices, one at a time, on these pages. Find them all, as they’re introduced, here.
Tags: business relationships, every point of contact, trust, Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth