Vision is the first step to efficiently operate a business. Yet, vision doesn’t always cut it. Similar to every entrepreneur, I had a vision but with the experience I’ve realized the importance of a strong plan, as well. Having a plan is akin to a great backup- if things go down, there’s something to fall back on.
In today’s influx of start-ups, companies face various challenges. Curious thing is that business owners take in accolades, yet run at the sound of failure. Unfortunately, in this competitive environment, a failure can lead to a closure. The reasons for failure are various; the most crucial falling is maintaining business relationships.
Running a business is not something you can fake your way through; you are either doing it right or not doing it right; simple! There are no two ways around it.
Lack of sustainability in the relationships is the leading cause of every business relation decline. This occurs when primary motivation for being in business is to acquire wealth rather than to create and add value. Many organizations while starting up tend to woo consumers. They provide great deals and build-up world-class products, but soon after a consumer starts accepting their products, they fail to prolong that love and ruin the relationship through shoddy follow-ups, expecting the consumer to lap it up the same way. Over the years, I have noticed a strong shift from quality to quantity, which has led to factory-lined churning out of substandard products.
When you build a strong relationship, but forget to tend it, it falters. It is similar to growing up a garden, which you have worked on zealously for 3 months, but neglect it afterwards. In means to earn a quick profit, businesses often alienate their audience. Today, if the drive for money replaces the drive to create more innovative and satisfactory products and services, relationships will automatically spur.
The inability to successfully take forward your customer-product relationship has a simple impact on the business; it drives the target-base away. Customer these days are intuitive and can see through the gimmicks you dole out to them. The moment they sense discordance in your marketing plan, they fail to relate to your brand and opt for the better available in the market further sabotaging the relationship.
Mr. Steve Jobs has, time and again, stressed on the beauty of customer service. No wonder, the popularity of Apple is based on its customer service, apart from innovation. He had famously said “People don’t know what they want unless you show it to them”. Business leaders need to anticipate what would serve best for their customers before the customer can even imagine it, himself.
When I started my career, business leaders were often seen in a fix, trying to read reports and follow the media, in earnest. They wanted to instil customer faith in them and hence, heal the relationship. However, nowadays, they have it better with the help of Easy Marketing Automation. Alongside, they can tally prior sales related data through Sales CRM to pinpoint the exact places where they went wrong; while Customer Management Software takes care of the customer bit through tracking the trajectories of customer consumption to gain important insights.
Another valuable tool is – Email automation, which forms an integral part of Business Intelligence solution. This software helps in crafting personalized emails, pertaining to events of the organization, as well as custom- made messages for customers to make them feel a part of the brand. In fact, the Email Marketing Software in India is on a booming stage due to this need.
Relationships never falter due to bad intentions; they simply wane from lack of business/consumer insights. Today you have valuable consumer insights; you are able to craft better products according to their needs that help to build and maintain prolific relationships.
