ABriYah.com 800 West Williams St. Suite 203 Apex, N.C. 27502

The most important piece of any small or large business is the customers. Because customers are so important, how you manage and maintain your relationships with your customers is vital. If your company produces unhappy customers, they will look elsewhere. The rise of the internet has truly led to global competition even among small businesses. With this global scale, you cannot compete on price alone.

Developing relationships with your clients is a win-win for you both. You become a partner for your client and you gain a loyal customer for your business. You'll see your business grow steadily from the referrals that your clients give you.

Here are a few tips for helping you grow your client relationships. 1. Don't be afraid to ask your happy clients for referrals 2. Stop by to visit your clients to see if they need your help 3. Do periodic "How are we doing?" check-ins 4. Be timely-respond to calls and emails promptly 5. Give them referrals. Small gestures like these will help keep you and your clients happy and continue to build on your relationships.

The continued growth of your business depends as much on retaining existing clients as getting new business. How do you stay in touch with your clients? If you're like some, you might use sticky notes and scrap paper and your memory (it sounds crude, but more people settle and operate this way then you may realize). The downside of using sticky notes or Excel is as you grow you may encounter trouble even keeping up with who all your clients are.

How can you stay connected with your customers this way? It's very difficult, if not impossible. How can you remember significant events that are important to your clients while simultaneously providing valuable industry tips or other information to them that they may need? You can use a CRM or Customer Relationship Management tool that has mass email capabilities and that can be customized to your individual or corporate needs.

CRM: a Client Relationship Management System. CRM is a technology tool that guides you get organized, track your leads and improve your customer retention. Many of the CRM software programs on the market are complicated, expensive and are unable to be customized. Remember, the overall goal is to save your organization money while becoming more organized and efficient to meet your customers needs. You want a higher ROI and productivity, not to just buy another piece of software.

Obviously, having a heathy relationship with your customers requires more than you contacting them once for them to purchase something from you. Use your CRM to stay connected flawlessly with multiple customers as well as your internal organization simultaneously. Is there a product recall you need to notify your customers about? Do you need a CRM tool to remind you to contact all of your clients on their child's 16th birthday or as their insurance needs change?

As a manager your company will definately benefit from the reports generated from your sales staff; what's more effective, cold calling or networking? What hours of the day are most of your prospects reached? What months have the highest sales success rates? Use the tools we have available to forcast and develop a strategy for your organization. Be more effective; stay organized; make more sales faster. Effective management of your client relationships will be a win-win situation for you and your customers.