Proven Strategies Promoting Successful Customer Relationships

We are entering a new era where the buyer is king. With more sellers competing for the same business, buyers becoming more knowledgeable (especially with AI), and self-service buying processes popularising, buyers are effectively now in the driving seat. 

For that reason buyers today can be less forgiving. According to a market study, 91% of clients leave a vendor without warning, and 47% switch brands in response to bad customer service.

In this article, we share seven strategies to help you build a prosperous relationship with your customers and reduce risk of churn:

1. Follow a Timely and Organised Onboarding Process

Firstly, the onboarding process with a customer should typically start 24 hours after the contract is signed. A smooth transition from sales to client success should take place and a formal kickoff should occur with a clear agenda, including:

• Key points of contact and their roles.

• Timeframes for project implementation and go-live dates.

• Change management processes and readiness.

• Metrics for success and baseline data.

Before this meeting, a pre-kickoff survey can also be distributed to collect vital information, such as key contact information, rationale for choosing your company and solution(s), and confirming a few data points that impact project success (e.g., number of users, departments impacted, product specifications, etc).

2. Establish Clear Accountability on Both Sides

It is important to embrace each customer relationship as a true partnership. Commitment must be genuine and demonstrated on both sides. If your client is already bailing on onboarding calls and is unresponsive, it is a poor sign. At your kickoff meeting, clearly outline the requirements and responsibilities of both parties to make the relationship successful. If the client is not also held accountable, they are likely to blame you later if things go awry.

3. Host Value-Driven Meetings

Clients' time is precious. Organising a call to just reiterate a few facts that could be shared in a report is not offering value. If you don’t set the right format, follow the right approach, and involve the customer in the process/discussion, you will discourage your client from attending planned meetings and start to lose their interest. Here are some tips to ensure your meetings are productive and adds value to the partnership:

• Ensure client priorities and concerns are addressed first.

• Provide insights that matter to the customer’s goals and persona.

• Endeavour to manage support issues in advance so you can prioritise strategic discussions.

• Prepare open-ended questions to stimulate conversation.

4. Fulfil Your Promises

When you’re engaging with a customer, you often make promises to make them happy. Naturally, consistently not fulfilling them will likely breach trust and ruin your relationship. We suggest that you take the following precautions to avoid this from happening:

• Don’t promise anything that you are unsure of. Clarify that point and tell the client you will double-check and escalate internally. Only thereafter revert back with your formal response.

• Don’t promise anything outside agreed contractual terms.

• If you promise something you can deliver, take note in your CRM and app where you manage your to-dos so you don’t forget.

• Send a reminder post-meeting within 24 hours reconfirming the next steps and promises.

As a general rule of thumb, seek to over deliver on your promises. This is often rare in client success and if you’re able to do this, you are likely to wow your customers and they will rave about you to others.

5. Address Problems Urgently

Whenever a client complains about a specific matter, you must address it quickly. Clients are more sensitive to negative than positive issues, so the nature of the problem can escalate very quickly, often to a point of no return. 

We recommend replying swiftly to a concern to either contain the issue entirely or give your client a piece of mind that it is being handled. Adhere to your company SLAs to resolve the matter swiftly.

6. Multi-Stakeholder Management

In every post-sales process, there must be a designated project champion and economic buyer established on the client side. Your client success and account management team should engage with these personas throughout your engagement. This is because the renewal and expansion process is influenced both by the strength of your solution (academic performance and impact) and its economic value (business impact). If you, for example, have high usage and your learners are happy but the buyer doesn’t see the need to prioritise the investment (or has left), then the account overall is in jeopardy of churning. You will run the risk of all that good work being spoiled by one person.

7. Involve the Leadership

Lastly, for your strategic accounts, involve both the leadership team from your company and the client. This can include CEOs, CROs, CCOs, and more. C-level executives are more likely to join discussions with seniority. Further, C-level involvement on both ends is a sign that both parties respect each other and feel the relationship is important. As a bonus, also have those meetings in person as they can be even more honest and impactful.

Conclusion

In today’s competitive and rapidly evolving marketplace, fostering strong, value-driven customer relationships is more critical than ever. By following the seven strategies above, you can enhance your customer interactions, ensure satisfaction, and build lasting partnerships that drive mutual success.

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