Managing Customer Relationships in Uncertain Times 2 of 13

In any period of uncertainty, there is a natural tendency toward caution and reluctance to invest in the future. Whatever takes place over the coming months and years, one thing is certain: the customer is king. That has always been true, but never more so than now.

Finding ways to better understand customer requirements, increase customer loyalty and manage costs will be the focus of every enterprise. Companies that do all these things well, and make targeted investments now will prevail. These imperatives will dominate the business world for some time to come.

Each company will take a unique path, but there will be some common themes in how each deals with a recessionary phase of business. We believe the following ten imperatives are critical issues for each of our clients to consider and resolve:

1. Integrate and secure customer information
2. Use better data to improve decision-making
3. Increase the focus on customer loyalty and retention programs
4. Increase sales focus on “farming” revenue from existing accounts
5. Make customer support the job of every employee
6. Turn every employee into a sales support person
7. Balance operational efficiency and growth
8. Focus on implementing long-term strategies as a process of continuous investment and improvement
9. Focus on return on investment
10. Use this opportunity to rebuild customer infrastructure

Over the course of the rest of the series, we will go into more detail about each of these issues and what you can do to manage and improve your customer relationships.