Customer relations 101: Beginner’s guide to building relationships

“It’s not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It’s the customer who pays the wages.”Henry Ford

Building strong customer relations will certainly help contribute to your company’s success, and in today’s customer-centric market, customer relations is a must. After all, over 90 percent of consumers are likely to spend more with businesses that offer streamlined conversational experiences.

Whether you’re nurturing long-term customer relationships or laying the foundation with someone new, it’s crucial to understand the importance of customer relations and how prioritizing across your business can create loyal customers and brand champions.

• What is customer relations?
• Benefits of customer relations
• The importance of customer relations
• Who is responsible for customer relationships?
• What makes a great customer relations employee?
• Customer relationship strategies
• Customer relationship tools

Every customer interaction has an impact, and it’s more important than ever for companies to consistently meet expectations. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report, consumers have higher customer service expectations now than they did a year ago. If you continually provide great experiences, you’ll develop strong relationships with customers, and that emotional connection can keep customers coming back—even if you drop the ball.

74% of customers say they will forgive a company for its mistake after receiving excellent service.

Customer relations is one of the most undervalued aspects of potential business growth. In their study on customer relations, Watermark Consulting compared data for the same businesses over 11 years. They discovered the companies that led in customer experience outperformed their competitors by a 3-to-1 margin. Such a margin represents millions of dollars and a solid, undeniable market advantage.

Customer service vs. customer relations

Customer relations refers to methodologies, and customer service refers to reactive interactions—both are crucial and work together to create a good customer experience.

The customer service team plays a key role in growing customer relationships, as they are usually the first point of contact for customers. In customer service, agents help customers in real time to solve issues and deliver a positive journey through the sales funnel. This presents opportunities to gather feedback and information about customer issues and behavior that can be communicated across teams.

Companies can use the valuable data gathered from customer service interactions to foster customer relations, and proactively strive to improve the customer experience and address problems before they impact customers.

Examples of customer relations activities

What are customer relations examples? Here are some specific activities of a customer relations team:

• Providing consistently great customer service

• Analyzing customer feedback through surveys and customer service interactions

• Setting marketing strategies

• Working with IT and technical teams to streamline customer interactions and decrease wait times

• Building and maintaining brand credibility

• Ensuring the customer service experience is consistent across customer touchpoints

• Proposing solutions to frequent issues, bottlenecks, and customer holdups (including researching and proposing the right sales and marketing software)

Not every team’s priority is going to be putting the customer first—that’s understandable. Each department has its own KPIs and goals to hit, so they all won’t necessarily focus on the same things.

That’s why customer relations is there: to ensure you never forget the customer.

Benefits of positive customer relations

What does customer relations mean to your business? Here are a few key benefits to help your company thrive.

Higher customer retention: Satisfied customers make repeat purchases and recommend your products to their friends and family. That’s invaluable free advertising and passive income from simply creating a positive customer experience. A study by Bain & Company found that a five percent increase in customer retention can yield a 25 percent increase in profit, at a minimum.

More customer loyalty: When you have a great relationship with your customers, it’s unlikely that they’ll leave you for a competitor, even if they can get a better price. According to our CX Trends Report, 70 percent of customers said they base purchase decisions on customer service quality. These intangible incentives created by strong customer relations drive customer loyalty.

Better business reputation and brand credibility: Customers will often reward businesses that provide top-notch experiences. Sixty-seven percent of customers who are impressed with a brand consider leaving a review detailing their positive experience or posting about it on social media.

Ability to maintain prices: Without a good customer experience, you may be subject to more price fluctuations due to a lack of customer loyalty or a poor service reputation. If sales are low, you may find that lowering prices is your only option to entice buyers. A high-quality customer experience adds value for customers and, in turn, helps foster pricing stability.

Increased competitive advantage: Brands that deliver the best customer experience generate around four to eight percent more revenue than their competitors. Focusing on providing memorable customer experiences and nurturing your customer relationships can set your company apart from the crowd.

Improved employee morale and attitude: When your customers are happy, your workers are more likely to be happy. When you prioritize positive experiences across the customer journey, your employees will feel more motivated, and your business will thrive. Don’t believe us? Companies with engaged employees outperform the competition by 147 percent.

The importance of customer relations (backed by numbers)

Customer relationships are vital to any business: Satisfied customers make repeat purchases and therefore bring in more money. In our CX Trends Report, 73 percent of business leaders said there’s a direct link between customer service and business performance. They’re right—that same report shows that high-performing companies view customer service as their primary revenue driver.

73% of business leaders say there’s a direct link between customer service and business performance.

Need more proof that customer relationships are the way of the future? Check out these statistics:

• Companies that earn $1 billion a year will see an average gain of $700 million within three years of investing in the customer experience.
• Offering high-quality experiences can lower the cost of serving customers by up to 33 percent.
• The average cost of customers switching to other companies due to poor service is $1.6 trillion.
• The top reason customers leave brands is that they feel unappreciated.
• Eighty percent of consumers are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences.

Who is responsible for building and maintaining customer relationships?

Building customer relationships isn’t a job that falls on any single team. Everyone at the company—from customer service to sales to product to marketing—plays a critical role. However, there are specific jobs within the customer relations department that can help with the process.

Who’s on your customer relations team?

The customer relations department normally includes three levels:

1. Chief customer officer (CCO): This person oversees the customer relations team and the interactions between the brand and its customers. They develop new strategies for building and maintaining strong customer relationships.

2. Customer relations managers: CR managers supervise customer relations representatives and their daily customer interactions. Depending on the size of the business and selling style, some CR managers will also handle any relations with major B2B clients. CR managers often work with the CCO to determine what strategies are working or not working for the team.

3. Customer relations representatives: CR reps are in the field—they’re directly communicating with customers on the phone, via live chat or messaging, and through email. They’re core to the company’s success because they hear feedback straight from the customers and can pass the information upward.

What makes a great customer relations employee?

When you’re assembling your customer relations team, you need people who can work together to solve numerous fast-moving problems. Here are the top qualities companies should look for in customer relations job candidates:

Top qualities

• Empathy:
  Customer relations employees must be able to step into customers’ shoes and understand their pain points to form a better connection with them. Today’s customers base 70 percent of buying experiences on how they feel they were treated, so empathy is a crucial trait.
• Adaptability:
  Customer relations activities vary every day. Customers have different personalities, reach out with a range of issues, and contact the company through multiple channels. Your team should be able to roll with the punches and provide quality customer service—no matter the circumstance.
• Strong communicator:
  One of the top pain points for customers is getting ambiguous answers to their questions. An effective customer service relations worker knows how to balance charm with clear, factual responses.

Top traits

The following traits are essential for customer service staff, but they’re also valuable for customer relations team members:

• Positive attitude:
  It’s tough to create a positive outcome for your customers without a positive attitude. When a customer is upset or frustrated, your customer relations rep has the opportunity to shine the brightest. They must stay focused on working through the issue and finding a solution.
• Responsible:
  Your customer’s problem might not be your fault, but it is your responsibility. Customers appreciate when a single agent takes ownership of the issue and does everything in their power to reach a resolution, communicating with them along the way.
• Calm under pressure:
  This trait may be tough to quantify, but it’s an important one for your customer relations team. An angry customer might get emotional or even yell. A customer relations rep must stay calm and maintain composure to de-escalate the situation and work toward a resolution.
• Active listener:
  A great customer relations employee knows that active listening is crucial. Verbalize that you’re listening with phrases like “I understand” or “of course,” and repeat key information back to the customer to ensure they feel heard and understood.
• Organized:
  Every day is busy in customer relations, and representatives and managers must be able to keep up without getting overwhelmed. When you have 50 people on hold, you need to know how to solve problems quickly and kindly—this is where strong organization and time management skills come in handy.

How to build positive customer relationships: 22 tips and strategies

Building any long-lasting relationship requires nurturing—something that’s especially crucial for customer relations. Customers don’t want to feel like their interactions are transactional. So taking every opportunity to provide a rich, personalized experience can provide nourishment to help your relationship grow.

Not every product, service, or company can fulfill every single customer need—and that’s fine. The secret is to identify what your business already provides to customers and how you can do more. Follow these tips and strategies to help your business build better, stronger customer connections.