5 Tips on Building Customer Relationships

Make sure your employees know that courtesy and friendliness are not enough. What customers really want is effective, efficient help.

Introduce your clients to your customer service representatives. Meeting a customer face-to-face instead of just on the phone can motivate employees.

Thank customers for their referrals. One real estate agent sends a fruit basket to clients who refer other home buyers or sellers to him.

Encourage employees to go the extra mile. One dry-cleaning employee couldn’t find a customer’s garment because it was missing the usual identification and price information. To make up for the inconvenience, she let the customer have the order free.

Don’t lose the human touch. If most of your business is done via technology, you have to try even harder to make customers feel valued.