Customer Communications Programme

Successful property investors often quote the well-known golden rule of "location, location, location". Similarly, the golden rule for effective customer management should be "communication, communication, communication".

After identifying your organisation's most valuable customers (refer to <Segmentation>), the critical contacts for each account need to be identified. You'll find these to be a mix of influencers and specifiers at various levels.

Often, in the management of key accounts, influencers involved in the day-to-day interactions consume the lion's share of time and other resources. It is imperative that communication is planned and scheduled. Even though communications often needn't be so frequent at specifier level, they must be embraced, otherwise you'll sit up one day and realise that six months have slipped by and little or no contact has been achieved with the most senior individuals within your key accounts.

It is also surprising how creative and well-balanced communications can be if carefully planned and thought out. Such structured communications often provoke positive reaction and uncover extra opportunities too.

Sometimes, our prospects say they've not got enough reasons to justify communication, there are always many opportunities to talk, send a note, email or meet, here are a few reasons below:

Ideas of reasons to communicate:

• Legislative change affecting client.
• Trade press material you think may be useful.
• Picking up on their activities and events from newscrawler notification.
• Update them on something you are doing.
• Discuss an idea you have for improving service or helping them achieve a known objective.
• Discuss operational results, yours or theirs.
• Discuss a social interest you know the contact has
• Ask for advice or simply ask a question.
• Contact to progress events and agreed dates, meetings, hospitality, progress reviews, etc.
• Offer training or ask for training in a common interest that you/they can provide.

Building momentum from well-balanced communications at key times can contribute massively to an effective customer management strategy. A gradual building of regular communication needs to take place well before renewing contracts, or quoting to gain forthcoming additional business that you know is in the pipeline.

Imonic have helped clients to build in tailored communications programmes through key account planning, and to set up additional high value channels for information flow; such as extranets, customer days, product launches etc, in line with the individual requirements (refer customer preferences).

Are you measuring the range and frequency of such interactions, and are you maximising all your communications opportunities and channels? Contact us if you'd like to discuss this further.