Colin Shaw – January 8, 2022 – Customer Think
How do you build a long-term relationship with customers while staying customer centric? Tina works for an engineering company in Australia and recently joined the New Zealand office. Her key focus is on Customer Experience and development, and she wants her team to move away from a transactional approach to customer relations. Today, we discuss how to convince people that building relationships with customers leads to stronger customer satisfaction, retention and positive business outcomes over time.
Tina wrote to us about her challenge. She explained that the company has engineers and technicians serving in dual roles because “customers do not want a sales relationship.” I have encountered this attitude, too. Some industries embrace the customer relationship concept more than others. For example, hotels and hospitality understand its value immediately. Other sectors, especially those that do not see the benefit of building positive customer connections, are less receptive.
When I heard Tina’s company was an engineering firm, I thought, “that sounds about right.” Engineers are brilliant at what they do, but they typically approach problems rationally. While essential in engineering, this rational approach can be a mistake for managing customer relationships if you want to maintain satisfaction and strong relations.
My global Customer Experience consultancy worked with a water utility in the U.K., so I relate to Tina’s situation. The utility had promoted an engineer to run customer experience. Initially, I doubted whether my message about the emotional side of Customer Experience was resonating with him—emotions that often drive positive customer relations, loyalty and feedback. But after a particular experience at a petrol station, he called me, transformed into a champion for customer success. He had realized how critical customer interactions and strong relationships truly are.
The Power of Storytelling
Reflecting on this, we reached him through stories, but we also provided evidence. When persuading anyone, you must meet them where they are. Engineers, in particular, need data to support their rational side. For Tina’s case, I would create spreadsheets showing the profitability of long-term customer relationships and compare new customer acquisition costs with the cost of keeping current customers. These numbers tell a compelling story for numbers-oriented people. Stories further reinforce the point, as do best practices from other organizations in their industry. Demonstrating how customer relations improve experience can lead to stronger loyalty and a more stable business model.
Another approach Tina could use is to ask her engineers about their own suppliers, especially those they have used for many years. Ask why they continue those relationships. The initial answer will likely be rational. However, if you probe further, you’ll uncover emotional reasons that foster positive relations. For example, ask about a time when there was a problem and how it was resolved. You might hear that the engineer was pleased or appreciated the vendor’s quick response or genuine concern. Words like “pleased” and “appreciated” reveal the emotional side of relationships. Highlighting these can help engineers see the value of relationships and encourage a culture of building customer connections.
Relationships Evoke Emotions That Benefit Your Bottom Line
Our research shows that appealing to emotions works. For my third book, The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value, we conducted two years of research with London Business School to identify 20 emotions that drive or destroy value.
From this, we developed Emotional Signature® research to discover customers’ hidden needs, even those unknown to themselves. When you can evoke customers’ emotions in valuable areas, you see the impact on your bottom line. By showing skeptics the science behind the numbers and supplementing it with stories, you reveal the reasons and results behind developing relationships. This insight is essential for building positive customer interactions and improving satisfaction.
Firms with stronger customer relationships also better understand what their customers want now and in the future. This understanding drives the development of new solutions and creates a competitive advantage. Knowing your customers better than the competition puts you ahead on the innovation curve. When you present this in numbers, your case becomes even more compelling—providing direct evidence that your business model benefits from strong customer relations.
What Should Tina Do?
Here are a few suggestions for Tina to convince her team of the value of customer relationships. First, she should observe how the most successful team members operate. Who is the top salesperson or customer manager? Do they rely on relationships to make sales? How long have they worked with their clients? In my experience, relationships are key to a service team’s success. People with high emotional intelligence build the best relationships, and their customers tend to spend more and provide more feedback. Tina could also research what engineering firms worldwide are doing regarding customer relations, including using CRM software for sales automation and building positive experiences.
Tina should also consider strategic differentiation. If her firm’s engineering solutions or consulting services are significantly different from competitors, they are well positioned in the market. However, commoditization is always a risk. Branding helps, but years of positive customer relations protect market share in ways transactional relationships cannot. Positive relations lead to loyal customers, higher retention and valuable word-of-mouth—all supporting a healthy business model.
We worked with Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company. They improved their Net Promoter Score® by 40 points over 30 months, which led to a 10 percent rise in shipping volumes. Logistics, like engineering, is a left-brain process, so the culture is similar. By recording a customer interaction and sharing it with leadership, we demonstrated the shortcomings of a transactional approach. The reality was eye-opening, and leadership saw the need for positive customer relations.
Practical Steps for Building Business Relationships
Everything we discuss here is about dealing with people. Building healthy relationships is fundamental. According to HelpGuide.org, building relationships in our personal lives involves:
- Spending quality time face-to-face
- Staying connected through communication
- Maintaining physical intimacy
- Learning to give and take
- Being prepared for ups and downs
Except for physical intimacy, these principles apply to business relationships. You need to spend time with your customers in person, communicate, and build trust. Sometimes you will compromise, sometimes the customer will. There will be good times and challenges, so you must be prepared. Tina should incorporate these concepts into her customer strategy and company culture, ensuring collaboration between customer service and customer relations teams.
Humans evolved to form interpersonal relationships, and we use the same cognitive tools in business. It’s not surprising there are parallels between personal and business relationship management. By carefully building positive connections, you can leverage customer data to establish strong relationships and improve experience throughout the customer journey.
For left-brained, rational thinkers, Tina can break this down into practical tactics. For example, if she wants engineers to help clients feel secure but they resist “touchy-feely” approaches, she can suggest, “call your clients to check in and see if they need anything.” This concrete step creates opportunities for contact, facilitating relationships and supporting CRM processes.
Communication: The Foundation of Long-Term Relationships
Most organizations struggle with communication, yet it is vital for long-term relationships. Tina might focus on improving communication as a first step, then build incrementally toward deeper relationships. Good communication fosters better support, encourages honest feedback and helps the team identify areas to improve customer experience and loyalty.
Ideally, Tina can get people excited about creating relationships. If she faces resistance, she can focus on facilitating opportunities for relationships as an intermediary step. Implementing company policies that promote customer communication can help people see the long-term benefits, even if progress is gradual. Over time, these small changes lead to a comprehensive customer relationship strategy and stronger loyalty.
Tina’s challenge is not uncommon. In some industries, appealing to emotions and building relationships may seem unnecessary. However, beneath any business relationship, even in engineering, you will find emotional connections that can be strengthened. Making your organization customer centric helps improve retention, promote positive relations and stay competitive. Tools like CRM software, team training and relationship management planning all help ensure you don’t undervalue the importance of building strong relationships.
I hope our advice for Tina helps you as well. If you have a different challenge in your customer strategy, please contact us at www.beyondphilosophy.com/pickle. We would love to hear about it and see how we can help.
