You’ve heard the maxim, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Taking it a step further, we might say, it’s not who you know, it’s how you connect. People like to do business with people they like.
To create this kind of relationship not just with customers, but with staff, vendors, and business associates consider the following strategies:
- Give Your All. Your customers deserve your absolute best, in terms of attitude, service, products, and follow-up. At Impact Absorbents, we pride ourselves on customer service, and provide extensive links to other relevant organizations and standards to help you get up-to-date information about spill safety, spill containment, spill cleanup and SPCC plans.
- Align with Allies. Do you admire the mission and values of the companies you’re seeking to do business with? Can you support their business approach? Your comfort level is critical to stellar service delivery; it’s difficult to conduct business with a client whose integrity you question or whose tactics you eschew. XSORB, for example, aligns with a group of carefully chosen distributors who believe in our products as much as we do, and understand how to focus on customers’ specific business needs.
- Exceed expectations. Going the extra mile may be a tired phrase, but the principle is perennial. Once you’ve formed an alliance with a new customer, deliver more than you agreed upon. If you can personalize that extra touch, so much the better. Perhaps you bring your customer a “goody basket”, except instead of fruit it contains protective gloves and goggles. Innovative and unexpected, while being completely useful. Use your imagination to come up with an idea that is neither typical nor required, and that’s guaranteed to delight.
