As anyone in customer support knows, a first time customer can become a repeat customer with customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction can be achieved in many, many ways, but this article is to address just one of them: customer nurturing.

In today’s hands on culture, the customer expects more. Customer nurturing is treating your customer like they are the CEO’s best friend; or more simply, treating them like a friend. It doesn’t matter if this is an individual, a small business, or a business partner. Everyone has the the potential to help your company flourish, so they should be treated special. This is what customer nurturing is, and it’s an important aspect of customer support.

It’s unfortunate that many big corporations don’t see that. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, large companies tend to lump small businesses into one catch-all category. This means they fail to understand their potential customer’s needs, and thus don’t adjust their sales pitch approach for each individual.

When you know your customers you can nurture them; you are attentive to their needs so you can find solutions that work for them. This sort of approach is more personal. It’s the difference between the automated message that puts you on hold for an insufferable amount of time and the simple personalized email that makes them smile while they drink their first cup of coffee of the day.

So, what do small business owners really want? The article notes that the CMO counsel survey found one reason:

Small business owners wanted word-of-mouth referrals before shelling out for a new online marketing tool. In other words, the best way to sell a hardware store owner is to start with the dry cleaner down the street.

You can do this with automated technology. You just need a customizable one that allows you to speak directly with your customers on their terms. One way to do this is with sending a text through your phone to the customer, which creates a real time interaction that’s nearly as good as picking up the phone.

On the back end you can use the data collected from the call or messages and integrate it into your back office tools, which you can turn around to make the next experience even better for your customers. It’s more than a tool, though, it’s customer support fuelled by data and softened with a personal touch. This is what makes nurturing your customer relations brilliant for customer satisfaction regardless if you are a mom and pop shop or a Fortune 500 giant.

To learn more about revolutionizing your business phone system, visit onereach.com.

Photo by Flickr user Shannon Mollerus.