While technology can never replace the personal experience when working with a customer, it can certainly enhance your interaction with a client or potential customer, regardless of the type of business you own. Here are three different ways you can implement and utilize technology to help improve customer communication and, ultimately, increase sales.
1. Social Media
Whether for personal or professional use, social media is all about building relationships. Work to develop accounts on the various social media sites as a way to keep in contact with both current as well as potential customers. People buy from businesses they know and trust. Make sure to engage with your followers — social media should be a two-way form of communication. That communication helps to build trust.
Additionally, make sure to offer a value to your social media followers. This “value” can be considered two fold. First, whenever you post, make sure it is something that will be of use to your followers. It could be a helpful tip, an answer to a posted question, or a photo of a new product you are now carrying. Second, offer a special code or link to your followers as a way of providing a “special purchase” opportunity. This will help you understand how closely your followers track your posts and if they take advantage of any special offers you provide. Use this information to quantify the value of time spent interacting on social media and adjust how often you post or converse with your followers.
2. Productivity Software
Utilizing productivity software is not just about improving efficiency for you and your employees. It should help improve your customer’s interaction with your business. Whether your business is product-focused or service-focused, productivity software is a worthwhile investment and can serve as a single-point of data collection for each customer. By doing so, you can continuously nurture that lead as new products and services become available that fit that customer’s purchase history. Using a comprehensive productivity software solution will help you develop a complete customer profile from which you can create a customized positive experience.
3. Blog and Vlog
It is important to remember that “content is king” no matter what the business. Help your customer with useful information in a blog post or a vlog (video). Think about making a short video about a new product you are offering. Send out an email newsletter announcing a new hire if that new employee that will have direct face time with your customers. Do a podcast interviewing someone from your business or a customer about their unique experience. Today you can provide a professional technological experience on a relatively small budget.
At the core of any business, you need to be able to solve a problem for your customer. Answer the question “what keeps you up at night?” Use technology to help create touch points with your customers as a way to stay in the forefront of their mind when making purchasing decisions. Whether you are a beauty salon, a coffee house, or a boutique, keep your focus on developing a positive experience for your customer and let technology help keep that relationship going!