Nobody Buys From a Company. They Buy From Whoever Remembered Their Name. That’s Relationship Marketing.

You can run every ad in the world and still lose to the guy down the street who remembers his customers’ kids’ names.

That’s relationship marketing summarized in one sentence, and it works the same whether you’re selling forklift parts to a plant manager or selling boots to people who want dry feet.

Relationship marketing is not a new strategy.  Like many proven models, though, more people talk about it than do it.

At its core, relationship marketing is just paying attention long enough that someone trusts you before they need you. The tools might have been adapted over time. CRMs, email automation, marketing dashboards.  In some cases, marketing is outsmarting itself.  Trying to automate human tasks and taking the lazy path, but that’s for a separate blog.  But relationship marketing itself hasn’t changed since the days when the corner hardware store knew what size nail you needed before you finished you sentence.

Let’s talk B2B first, because that’s where most of you reading this actually operate.

Most business buyers, believe it or not, want to buy from companies who they trust will be around.  Of course there are companies who pride themselves on being cheap, trying not to pay their bills, taking unearned discounts and all that.  But you own your business. You can choose not to sell them, believe it or not.  But I digress.

Trust does the heavy lifting in a lot of commercial selling. The vendor who shows up consistently, who calls back, who flags a problem before the client realizes it, wins the contract over the guy with the flashier pitch deck almost every single time.

Customer Retention is cheaper than acquisition.  That’s not new.  But it’s still the reason your best year is usually the one where you didn’t lose anybody, not the one where you signed the most new customers.

Happy customers talk to other businesses.  A referral from another contractor is worth twenty cold calls, and it costs you nothing but doing good work in the first place.

How to build trust?  Learn enough about your client to stop sending them generic garbage. If your CRM just holds a name and a phone number, it’s not good enough to manage relationships.  Send your customers something useful, regularly.  Before they knew they needed it.  An article.  A summary of your industry.  A heads up on a regulation change.  Whatever tells them you’re thinking about their business when there’s nothing for you to immediately sell. Finally, get in a room with people. Trade shows, association meetings, the boring Tuesday lunch nobody wants to attend.  If your customers are there, that’s where relationships strengthen.

B2C is a bit different, but it’s still built on attention.

Consumers stick with brands that feel like they’re aligned with them.  That’s why people will drive past three gas stations to get to the local Kwik Trip.  It’s why some brands survive terrible years because customers already like them too much to leave. Knowing what your customers truly want lets you stop guessing and learn what they’ll actually buy. Like businesses, a customer who had a great experience will tell people for free.  That’ the whole purpose of Yelp and every five-star review that isn’t fake.

Some things to consider.  We’re past the age of information and into the age of personality.  Like it or not, “influencers” are basically just hanging out in public in a new way.  That means if you want to make it work, then show up on social media like a person, not a commercial. Answer comments. Repost the customer who tagged you instead of just liking it and moving on. Reward people who keep coming back.  This doesn’t have to be fancy.  A punch card works fine if it’s genuine. Finally, do something with the complaints you get. Nothing kills trust faster than a feedback form that clearly goes nowhere.

Whether you’re B2B or B2C, the fundamentals overlap more than people admit. Know your customer well enough to be useful to them specifically, not generically. Put out content that teaches something instead of just plugging your stuff. And close the loop on feedback.

How will you know if it’s working? Measure.  Who sticks around, how much are they worth to you over the life of the relationship, and are they recommending you.  If you’ll measure these, the answer will tell you how good you are at relationship marketing.

It’s not free, and it’s not automatic. Setting up the systems to track this takes effort. If you’re not careful, you can overdo automation until it feels like they’re just a number.

Measuring the return on relationship selling is more difficult than a straight ad ROI so you have to be comfortable making the case with things that don’t fit neatly in a spreadsheet.

You can start now.  Take an honest look at your current client list and figure out who you’ve been neglecting. Build a plan instead of winging it then check in with people on a regular schedule, not just when you need something from them.

Relationships take time, and there’s no shortcut to actually showing up for people for a long period of time. But it makes a difference for customers tolerating you or moving along when someone cheaper shows up.

If you want help building this for your business, schedule a discovery call or sign up for our next marketing masterclass (www.actioncoachwi.com/marketing-masterclass/)