By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive

When it comes to keeping your best customers, what methods do you use?  The fact is, in a sluggish economy, cutting back on purchases and spending is what most consumers do first.   Companies, on the other hand, figure they can afford to trim back their sales force, customer service staff, and their marketing budget.  Those companies assume, without the support of sound statistical evidence, that they can manage search engine marketing, display advertising, and email retention programs in-house.  They think they can handle it all themselves.  Numerous case studies indicate otherwise while demonstrating that it is more cost effective and profitable to out-source to companies that specialize in a particular service. 

What companies discover is that, more often than not, the difficulty in finding prime talent, paying the salaries and benefits that will keep these professionals, and the investment needed to obtain the “tools” (i.e. the technologies they’ll need to succeed), amounts to more than the service fee an agency would charge.  Not to mention that oftentimes revenue is lost to competitors while companies trying to manage their marketing in-house struggle with the inefficiencies that become hurdles when companies stray from their core competencies.   The digital landscape is littered with examples of companies that have created problems for themselves by trying to stretch their resources too thin only to see mediocre, or even worse, degraded results.  Think Yahoo!

It’s Not (Just) About the Software

Sure, there are all kinds of tools and programs out there to help you manage your customer relationships more effectively but none of those will take the place of human to human interaction.  If a customer feels well treated then you have increased the probability of developing a relationship that will span multiple conversions.  If your company misses the opportunity to treat that shopper with care and clarity then you’ll lose that conversion and will have missed the chance to convert that person into not only a sale but into an influencer who will spread the good news about the positive experience that person had with your company. 

It takes real, personal interactions with your customers to truly make your business shine.  Staying committed to building and managing your client relationships, even when times are tough, demonstrates forward thinking.  Admittedly it’s tempting to push the “magic” button flooding your database with yet another email offer because the revenue will roll in.  But that’s short term thinking.  You’ll eventually burn those people out. 

Remember those “records” — those names and email addresses — represent real people.  Give them something of value from time to time for free.  Offer newsletters, tidbits, or even a coupon to use later.  But don’t ask them to buy each and every time you contact them.  Sure, building and managing client relationships is capital and labor intensive but the conversion rates when you do run an offer will more than make up for the investment.  And you’ll keep them as yours for years.  Showing someone you’re genuinely involved with them gives evidence that you’re not just focused on the bottom line.  As a result, your bottom line will grow by leaps and bounds. 

Now is the Time to Get Involved

You can’t manufacture a sales force full of robots to do your bidding and hope your brand doesn’t suffer because of it.  You can’t plug a bunch of names into a database and hope its meager personalization efforts will make your customers feel “warm and fuzzy” about your company.  People are hungry for real contact with companies that care.  Now is the time to step up and start making customer relationship-building your number one focus.