‘Whenever I get frustrated from my job and busy work schedules, the first thing I do is call my mother and vent out everything. She listens to me patiently and at the end of my venting out utters the most pleasing words that eliminate all the anger and frustration from my mind - Everything will be fine. And, suddenly the world becomes a better place to be.’
“Want to become a leader who gets things done? If yes, then stop using email to manage work and switch to ProofHub.”
This simple life situation has taught me a lesson, a lesson that has helped me immensely in my career as a marketing manager here at ProofHub.
The power of listening
Communication is the most basic form of human interaction. But most people think of communication as just a means to speak. However, communication is not just speaking out but also listening to what the other person has to say. We humans love it when someone listens to our thoughts, ideas, anger statements and whatever the emotions we are going through.
It won’t be wrong to say that listening is in fact as powerful an action as speaking. And, this basic ideology we can employ in our marketing gigs to make sure that our customers feel valued.
Making customers feel heard - why is it important?
To answer this question, I’d like to refer a short, crisp and to-the-point article that I recently read on Entrepreneur.com. The writer, Jason Feifer, who is also the Editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine shared his personal experience of how making customers feel heard helped him win a faithful audience for the magazine. Here is a little piece from that article -
‘Readers write me all the time when they don’t like something in the magazine -- and their notes can be long, angry and come with a threat to cancel subscriptions. But I’ve developed a theory on what’s happening: They don’t expect to be heard, so they’re speaking as loudly as possible. They’re showing up at the door with a battering ram. In turn, I try to reply within hours.
The reader’s response to me is almost always the same. “I didn’t think I’d hear back,” they’ll write. Then they’ll promise to keep reading the magazine. Just like they kept coming back to the magazine. The same goes in entrepreneurship.’
How to make them feel heard?
Now the question is how to let your customers know you are listening to them? Well, here are some tips that will help -
1. Get social
How often do you interact with your customers? Is your social media presence strong? Do you keep an eye on what people are talking about you on social media? Or what your competitors are doing to capture a bigger share of the pie?
Remember social media is the most amazing resource to interact with customers. Make full use of it.
2. Prompt replies
Don’t let the comments posted by your customers or followers go unattended. You must have a dedicated marketing team to take care of what people have to say about your product service or anything else related to your business.
Reply to what they are saying promptly. Offer them a solution, in case they are facing some problem with your service. Thank them if they have shared an appreciation for something they liked about your service. Let everything be in open.
3. Suggestions and feedback
Keep asking for suggestions and feedback on your work. Surveys, polls and there are plenty of other options that you can rely upon for doing the same. You can even run competitions and bounties asking for suggestions and offer some giveaways to people who come up with the best suggestion/idea.
This will not only engage the customers, but at the same also showcase that you are someone who welcomes their suggestion - after all solving their problems in the best possible manner is the ultimate goal of your business.
4. Stick to your words
But remember to stick to what your promise to your customers. Whether it is about implementing the suggestions they share or any feedback you receive. The power of social media can be good, but any false claims and fake promises can also ruin your reputation instantly.
No matter what you do, but don’t provide any false information or claim that works against your business repute.
5. Thank them
The virtue of courtesy can take you places. People love to be with businesses that values them. Sharing your gratitude towards your customers is a great way to achieve that. Let your customers know how important they are.
In fact, numbers from a Salesforce survey show that 55% of all the customers are ready to pay even more, provided they get a great customer experience. So, it is up to you now to make their experience from good to better and from better to best!
Take a leaf out of the book of big names
Starbucks is one such big name that makes use of social media to good effect for interacting with customers. They check profiles of their followers on Twitter, looking for any feedback, experiences both good and bad. And, in case of something negative they encourage people to contact them or post the most possible solution (according to the customer) to better their experience right there on Twitter.
So, you can take a leaf from their book and make full use of social media to interact with your customers.
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About Author
Vartika Kashyap is the Marketing Manager at ProofHub (https://www.proofhub.com/) — a project management software for your growing business needs. She is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016, and is also a contributor for The Next Web, Huffington Post & Your Story. She is also a top writer in Leadership & Productivity on Medium. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.
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