Developing and sustaining relationships

 

Business practises have changed markedly in recent years.

 

Although many operations are completed electronically in this virtual world, we should never forget that essentially commerce is about people trading together.

 

The reality of the real world is that goods need to be moved from point of production to point of consumption and obviously the diverse elements which make up this chain cannot be achieved solely via a computer terminal.

 

One of the biggest problems associated with the rise of e-commerce has been the accompanying lack of personal contact between a company and its customers.

 

Obviously this is not an issue for an online retailers selling products over the net and being paid via a Debit Card or Pay Pal etc.

 

However, there is an increasing tendency for B2B sales to be concluded by email or even SMS. The personal element has been lost and so has the identity and customer relationship.

 

The surest way to avoid problems is by knowing your customer and understanding their business.

 

It is simply not possible to nurture this relationship and mutual understanding thru a key pad and email ordering system.

 

 

It makes sound economic sense to foster and maintain good customer relationships as it has been determined that it costs up to five times as much to win a new customer as it does to retain one.

 

There is an old adage “know your customer,” this maxim has never been more relevant than in these uncertain and challenging times.