How to Strengthen Customer Relationships Amid Industry Challenges
Verity regularly asks its senior B2B customer contacts about the main challenges that they and their businesses face.
Read on to discover the top three challenges that we find dominate the results, and how you can not only navigate these issues successfully. but improve your customer relationships along the way.
In recent surveys we have found that the top three B2B industry challenges were:
1. Customer relationship management. This issue broke down into two categories: how to re-establish ‘customer intimacy’ now that things have ‘returned to normal after the Covid period’, and how to maintain ‘good’ customer relationships against a backdrop of frequent price increases and a volatile supply chain environment. One respondent said: “this period of uncertainty increases the need for us to stay in close contact with our customers and to develop a deep understanding of their expectations.” More bluntly, another said: “our focus is on repairing some of the damage done to our customer relationships.”
2. Unprecedented cost/price inflation was an emerging concern across the industry sectors covered. Most top of mind were concerns about managing price increase discussions effectively as well as anxiety around the impact of input costs on company margins. One respondent said: “how to manage customer contracts so that they deliver an acceptable profit during a period of unprecedented inflation is a huge challenge.”
3. Ongoing supply chain pressures remain a major headache, although there was some evidence of weakening demand alleviating some of the pressure in some sectors. Many talked about the need for more flexible supply platforms and closer, more integrated, demand planning processes.
Our surveys highlight the opportunity that there is now to really focus on relationships. So how can you do that?
1. We all try to listen but are we actually hearing? Ensure you not only listen but hear your customers and understand what they really think and need from you. During the pandemic, there was less face-to-face contact and therefore fewer opportunities to simply have an informal chat. Make it a priority to get regular customer feedback and to act on it. Of course, if you currently do not have a robust customer survey mechanism in place that measures the health of your relationships down to the individual level, then now is the time. You can’t manage your relationships if you don’t know where you stand.
2. Set clear expectations: It’s very important to get in front of these issues before they can affect your relationships. At Verity we have clear evidence that how a customer feels about your company determines how they will react to everyday issues. So, if you have difficult messages to deliver, then focus on setting clear expectations and communicating these effectively, and then deliver against these. That way, even if your customer doesn’t like the message, they will respect your openness and professionalism.
3. Show empathy: If you are not communicating with your customers regularly or acting on feedback, they may perceive that you don’t care. Our data tells us that a lack of communication is one of the main drivers of customer dissatisfaction. Check in with your customers, ask them to talk about their issues, probe on ways they may need your further support. Your customers will perceive your willingness to listen and look for solutions as evidence you are a true partner and not simply a vendor or supplier.
4. Demonstrate proactivity: If the acute issue with your customer is inflation, then proactively look for ways to save costs/resources, even if the results are modest. Gestures are important. Demonstrate that you are trying to maximise value for the customer. In our survey data with thousands of customers, we see customers raise more issues with how manufacturers respond to these issues than we do about the issues themselves – so show you care by taking the initiative
