In a business world focused on customer acquisition and retention, it’s easy to forget the importance of building relationships with people.
We often focus so much on turning customers into buyers that we miss out on the potential for creating lasting relationships with them. But what if we start thinking about our customers as friends instead?
Seth Godin famously said, “Make friends, not customers”. While this is an excellent rule of thumb for any business, it is especially important for startups and new companies just starting out.
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The Power of Friendship
When you focus on building friendships instead of just making sales, you create a connection between your business and its customers that goes beyond the transaction. This connection can be incredibly powerful — it builds loyalty and trust between the two parties.
When customers feel connected to a brand or business, they are far more likely to become repeat customers and even recommend your products or services to others.
When it comes down to it, people don’t like feeling as though they are being sold something; they prefer to feel as though they are part of an exclusive club or community with specific values and beliefs.
If you make them feel like part of the family by being there for them beyond the purchase, they will be much more likely to stick. That means increased loyalty and higher profits for your business!
Creating meaningful relationships with your customers will help you promote brand loyalty and encourage word-of-mouth marketing. People who like and trust you are more likely to recommend your business or product to their friends, family, and colleagues — which leads to more sales!
In addition to helping spread the word about your business, having solid relationships with people will help you better understand their needs and wants. This allows you to tailor your product or service offerings specifically for them, leading to higher customer satisfaction levels that can generate even stronger customer loyalty.
Create an Open Dialogue and Engage in Conversation
The best way to start making friends with your customers is by creating an open dialogue with them. This means building open communication channels where customers can discuss and leave feedback about the products or services you offer.
Discord is an excellent place for this as you can not only connect with your customers but also connect like-minded customers together to build an active community around your brand.
Be sure to respond to comments and posts and engage in conversation with them whenever possible. Always respond promptly and politely when someone interacts with you online, as this can help build trust between you and the customer.
Additionally, engaging in conversation helps show potential customers that you are accessible if they have any questions or concerns about your products or services.
Build Useful Resources Beyond Your Product
Not only should you focus on creating resources that help solve customer issues with your products, but you should also look to create resources that tap into adjacent areas of interest.
Creating guides and resources in adjacent areas of interest can help you build trust with potential customers and establish yourself as an authority in your field.
For example, suppose you are a SaaS productivity software company. In that case, you could create a guide about how to run successful remote teams or how to optimize collaboration tools for distributed teams.
These guides will not only show potential customers that you understand their needs, but also demonstrate your knowledge of the industry as a whole.
The key is to focus on topics that are related to but not dependent on your product or service. You want the content of these guides to be helpful and informative even if someone doesn’t purchase from you — this will help increase the reach and impact of the content since it won’t feel overly “salesy” or promotional.
Additionally, by creating content outside your core offering, you are positioning yourself as an expert in your field without relying on hard-selling tactics like cold calling or aggressive marketing campaigns.
Some key Benefits of Building Friendships
– Improved customer retention — When customers feel connected to a business, they are less likely to switch over to competitors because they have built an emotional bond with the company.
– Increased revenue — Customers who have formed an emotional connection with a business tend to spend more money over time because their loyalty increases with each purchase. This leads to increased revenue for the company in the long run.
– A better online presence — Having loyal customers who actively engage with your content online (e.g., leaving reviews or sharing posts) helps boost your online visibility by increasing organic reach and improving search engine rankings. This is especially beneficial for businesses looking to grow their digital presence quickly without relying solely on paid advertising campaigns.
In Conclusion
In Conclusion: Making friends rather than focusing on getting new customers is an important part of any successful business strategy today.
By creating an open dialogue with customers, engaging in conversation, and creating valuable resources that help solve customer problems, businesses can show potential customers that they care about their opinions and reward loyalty when it is earned.
Not only will this help foster long-term relationships between companies and their existing customer base, but it will also attract new ones as well!
