There are no two ways about it, customers are the lifeblood of your business. They are the source of the money that comes in. They help it grow, expand and shape the direction it will take in the future.
With things the way they are now, however, with many businesses struggling to meet the twin challenges of the financial situation and the pandemic, they are more important than ever. They should be valued and nurtured for many reasons, but especially these three.
1. They help you spread free publicity
You want good publicity to keep your business going, and the more people that know about what you do, the better. The best way of doing this is through your customers. Whether it is through custom swag or by just having your logo on your packaging, your customers can reach people that your website and social media can’t. This can include people who are offline or people who aren’t likely to invest in your business but know someone who might. Best of all, though, word of mouth recommendations are a powerful tool and can give you a surge of new customers who might want to use your business.
2. Can help you with repeat business
Say, for example, you own a trucking company. You are looking for customers and come across an already highly reliable and established business with a load board so you can pick up ad-hoc jobs or find the best work for your business. You select your assignments and do them well, earning excellent feedback from the customer.
Not only does this look good for you, but the customer also now has a positive experience from posting work on that load board and is more likely to do that again. Of course, when they do, it creates more work for you as well. This is the kind of win-win situation that helps both businesses survive in a tough climate.
3. Can help you learn and grow as a business
Customers can help a business hone and define its craft. For example, going back to the trucking business example used above, you will want your customers to be over the moon with what your business service provides. Naturally, you might find that there are a lot of different types of customers, and, of course, you won’t get everything right. Still, customers will help you handle situations and create problems that will help you and your business become more versatile and responsive in the future.
Unfortunately, there are still some things out of your control, and some customers will ignore the fact that you did the best that you could do. For example, you didn’t deliver a package to them on time due to a car accident that blocked the road, and you did the best you could with the options given to you. There are just people in the world like that. Having those sorts of customers will help you gain experience handling situations like these with grace and poise, without getting angry or conflictive, which is how you might, understandably, feel.
