Small Business Talk
The Podcast to Grow your Business Faster
Importance of Building Business Relationships - Cathy Smith Interviewed By Alan Stevens
Show Notes
This week on Small Business Talk podcast we turn the tables and have Alan Stevens interviewing Cathy Smith our normal host. Alan Stevens is an International Profiling Communication Specialist.
“I’ve been in business now for 20 years and my business is all about connecting with people, making sure that you are actually building relationships. I’m in web design and digital marketing. Relationships in digital marketing are really critical, and we’ve noticed that over the last 12 months in particular because even though we’re online, people still like to deal with people that they know, like, and trust.” Cathy said.
Importance of Building Business Relationships
In the world right now, there are a countless amount of businesspeople selling products or services. Having a customer relationship is essential to getting yourself above those other sellers and making sure the client wants you. A relationship ensures better business, because they know you care.
People want to buy from businesses they:
- Know
- Like
- Trust
68% of customers leave because they think the business does not care about them.
Is This the Right Business for Me?
Often businesses will try to tell you that you need the product or service they are selling. Asking around can help with figuring out whether this business truly does have something essential – and testimonials and reviews on their work can help make sure you are informed, but do not take their word as law. People can be just as unreliable as a business.
Reviews are there for a reason; remember to read them, but objectively.
Your opinion is important too, though. Is the business:
- Relevant?
- Consistent?
Doing your research is essential. And making sure your business meets the criteria above is important too.
You can do a range of different things for your customers to show them that you care. Often doing the little things are the ones tha move the needle the most. Things like making the navigate on your website easy to understand and use. Making sure that they can get the information they want without having to go 15 clicks down and by then they will have actually forgotten what they were looking for in the first place.
Ethics in Business
CATCO Enterprises offers an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) service to customers to get their business to the top spot on Google. This only works because I have an ethical code to only accept one business from each category in a geographical location, so there is only one business that can be number one.
Alan Stevens says “you don’t have ethics, you don’t really have a business.” So true.
There is a lot of spam emails and calls in the SEO space which are cut & paste and bear no relevance to the customer’s website at all.
Having good ethics and building strong customer relationships will outlive a quick sale and often be a lot more profitable in the long run too. Happy customers will often recommend your services as well.
Likeability is Important
Clients won’t work with people they do not like.
If you cannot make a rapport with a customer, they will not want to work with you. This is good for both you and the customer – you want to go where people celebrate you, not simply tolerate you. There are 7.7 billion people on the planet, why spend time with those you do not like?
If you are not doing well with a client or business, it’s okay to step back. An abundance mindset brings more positivity to all. Work with people you like and people that like you and you will find that business is a lot more fun, plus the results that are produced are normally far greater too.
Building Customer Relationships
Customer relationships is the backbone of good business. When you tap into the emotion of your most loyal customers; the greater the value that you are perceived to offer the will be and more successful and easy your business will be.
Listen to Small Business Talk Episode 112 for the full episode.
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