Interacting with customers over social media is difficult but at least you have the benefit of editing yourself before you put anything out there. You don’t get that when you’re meeting face to face with customers. That’s why a lot of people prefer to do business over email and social media but it isn’t as valuable. While it’s still an important part of business communication you need to be meeting customers in person. If you think that you could do with brushing up on your people skills, here are a couple of tips to help you along the way.

4 Tips For Better Customer Relations

Avoid The Hard Sell

It’s tempting to think that you need to sell your product while you’ve got a customer there. Not trying to sell seems like a waste of the opportunity but it isn’t. Nobody likes a pushy salesman and if that’s the first impression that the customer gets of your company then they aren’t likely to come back. However, if they have a pleasant experience meeting you and nothing more, they’re likely to think of you in the future. People like to deal with people so forming a good relationship is more beneficial than getting a one time sale in the long term.

Networking

When you’re thinking of customer meetings, consider it a networking opportunity instead of a sales opportunity. When you’re at events like trade shows, people are going to be getting hassled left right and center by people trying to make a quick sale. If you entice them with great tradeshow displays and then just speak to them about their business and their needs in a more general sense, they’ll leave with a positive perception of your company. If you do that with everybody you meet, you’ll come away with loads of great contacts that will eventually yield sales in the future.

Get Feedback

As well as networking with potential customers, you should make sure to speak with existing customers. They are a brilliant source of information that can help you to improve your products. Whenever you meet with an existing customer, make sure that you ask them lots of questions about what they do and don’t like about your products and make a note of it. Collating that information can give you a good idea of where to go next.

Be Polite

This seems like an obvious one but you’d be surprised how many people don’t do it. It only takes one bad experience with a rude person to put a customer off your business forever, even if they love your products. Nobody wants to give their money to somebody that they dislike. Whenever you’re speaking to a customer, be pleasant and smile but don’t overdo it. If you’re overly polite you’ll just come across as false and that’s just as bad as being rude. Speak to customers just like you would anybody else and they’ll respond to it.

Speaking to customers face to face is one of the most effective ways to secure their business so make sure that you’re getting it right.