May 14, 2005: “We don’t just sell products or services to our customers, we build long-term mutually rewarding relationships with them.”

Since this became the creed of choice for marketing gurus in North America in the late 80’s, countless numbers of books have been written expounding the virtues of ‘Relationship Marketing’…and creating just as much confusion in the process as to how exactly one goes about doing that.

As a marketing strategy, it’s sound, as we all know that the largest part of most of a company’s comes from an existing customer base. Also, we know that the acquisition cost of attracting new customers is more expensive than holding onto the ones we have.

Building those ‘long-term, mutually rewarding’ relationships with customers makes good business sense. But how do we actually go about doing that?

First, let’s take a look at what a relationship is really all about.

The business relationship is built on many of the same principles as a personal relationship. The foundations for a good personal relationship are built on mutual trust, respect, understanding of needs, responding and fulfilling those needs and all those intangibles that make for a strong two-way bond.

The key component that is often overlooked when this is applied to the business model of a relationship is that it doesn’t happen over night. A relationship is only built and strengthened OVER TIME. This component is critical to the building of the long-term relationship.

Therefore, when developing a ‘relationship- based’ strategy for marketing your business to existing customers, it is critical to plan for the long-term. Any ‘relationship’ marketing strategy must include regular interaction with customers over the long term.

For example, this could include rebates or rewards when certain purchase volumes are reached, and two-way communications at regular intervals that make customers feel that you are paying attention and responding to their individual needs. Also, timely interaction provides you with valuable feedback on how your business is performing and serves as a yardstick of how you service their business.

Implementing this strategy can be as simple as picking up the phone and talking to customers for a few minutes and really listening to what they have to say. Or, you may prefer to mail or email them a newsletter, a new product announcement, a special sale for customers, or even just a note thanking them for their business. All this adds up to a simple statement that tells customers you’re paying attention to them and value their business.

If you practice this type strategy as a regular part of your day-to-day business, OVER TIME you will strengthen, reinforce and build those long-term relationships you’re seeking to develop with your customers. And remember to be patient, timely and consistent with your communications, because just as in your personal life, it takes time to build a solid relationship with a customer.

If you have any questions, or wish to discuss how we can help your business develop and implement a ‘Relationship Marketing’ strategy, just give us a call, or send us an email.