Customer relationship marketing or words to that effect

Do the big boys make a meal of that! Huge expenditure on software applications to enable them to build customer relationships. Why one wonders. What went wrong that they need to resort to those expensive toys?

It’s something that I thought of a day ago when my friend who runs a self-catering accommodation business in Cape Town forwarded me an email conversation she is having with one of her overseas visitors.

She had spent quite a bit of time telling her visitors what changes had been made and how much nicer the accommodation would be if they came back for a repeat visit. It was like friends talking. And her visitors agreed that they would like to come back in February the following year.

That’s customer relationship marketing. No fancy software required. So what can a business learn from this?

Let’s get back to basics. What Cheryl from At Cheryl’s does is the following. And these are real easy steps to follow. She treats her customers with respect. Not exactly novel in concept but something the big companies have mostly forgotten how to do.

She genuinely cares for her customers. Also a foreign concept to the big boys. And she shows her caring in the most straightforward way by always putting her customer’s well being ahead of anything especially her own comfort.

Cheryl has her own way of building a relationship by being genuinely interested in her customer as a person. As much as it’s a business transaction, mostly anyway, she nevertheless will learn (without snooping) about her customer’s family, pets and background and will remember this information should they ever come back.

With the result that her people come back again and again because they know they will get treated well. They also know that the place will have been improved because Cheryl listens to customer feedback. They know they will be remembered fondly and will be made most welcome again.

Aren’t these the absolute basic business skills that are so easy to know and implement mainly because you yourself would like to be treated that way. So why shouldn’t you treat your customers the way you like to be dealt with yourself.

When did this easy to understand principle become so complicated that one needs to buy in special software to handle it? And why do big companies disregard this entirely and totally? It’s because the customer has become a cost centre not an asset.

For whatever reason they don’t do it it doesn’t matter, it’s surely bad business. Just as an aside I have just recently had horrific service from BT and Atlantic Gas & Electricity, so bad it was beyond understanding. I will never ever be a customer of either of these companies again once my current relationship has been severed. Never!