Connect with clients Considering Coronavirus outbreak
For any business manager or sales team, a real question remains how to keep in contact with customers during the holidays without being intrusive, specially at this moment with the Health Crisis. Bstaff reveals its tips with its ultimate advice.
It is true that today we do not lack the means of communication. In order to maintain a link between companies, and connect with their clients. The question to be asked is by what means and when. This link is becoming more and more important in terms of retaining the loyalty of our community and all of our stakeholders.
A company that doesn’t communicate can encounter many difficulties in maintaining its audience. There are different ways to communicate. Email, letter, press release, through journalists, telephone but also via social networks. In recent years, social networks have had a real impact on corporate strategy. This allowed the creation of new jobs such as community manager. Social networks allow to have a direct link but above all : to be interactive. It is important to communicate well according to the chosen channel and its persona.
In the marketing language, for a company represents its ideal customer. The one on which the company bases all its communication. Indeed, the channel, a press release and an email will not have the same objective and will not be addressed to the same people. Thus, a company must stay in constant contact with its various stakeholders, in a regular and qualitative way.
But we come back to the question at the beginning. How to communicate in the summer period? We know the importance of communication and the impact it has on the company. This is why we must avoid any slackening even during the long holidays. The challenge is to understand how to keep in contact with clients and its community. Yes, this includes our suppliers, collaborators and users. All of this without taking up too much space in their day, while making an impression on their minds. In this article we will give you some solutions to connect with your community. Solutions that are also in relation to the current state of the global epidemic. Some countries are still confined or even re-confined. This is why it’s important to keep in touch with them because the business world never stops.
Connect with clients : On which platforms do my customers log into ?
Firstly, it’s important to know that the majority of holidaymakers leave with their eletronic devices. So they do not necessarily disconnect and for some of them they’re even still working. This allows them to be always informed about their activity and current events. According to a study broadcast by the French television channel TFI, Americans spend about 1460 hours on their phones, tablets per year. This means 61 days. Compared to France, the average is down by 1h24 per day, or 120 hours per year, for a total of 26 full days.
First of all, it is necessary to start from a global observation on which we notice that each user possesses on average 3 tools in his daily life. Namely his mobile phone, his personal and/or professional computer which we travel can’t go without. We never know if we’ll need to do a last minute job.. And the tablet, which has become the essential instrument. It’s situated between the telephone and the computer. Convenient, right ? But it doesn’t always fulfil the functions of the computer and the phone, so it’s interesting, but it doesn’t totally replace them.
On the basis of these 3 physical devices used by consumers, we now need to think about the channels used when making connections.
In general, it is known that people prefer more and more to watch a video than to read a text. For this reason, existing and new companies now offer visual presentations of their services. Like conferences to exchange and answer questions on subjects specific to their business.
Fortunately, writing still has a future. Even if it is becoming more and more rare in today’s communication methods. Today, it is a key factor in attracting the attention of the future customer who turns on his mobile phone, opens his e-mail, or does a simple google search.
Individuals certainly like videos but still sometimes read. Social networks are our friends to target our future customers and keep in touch with those already existing. Don’t forget about our community !
Communication in times of health crisis
Now that we know the tools to connect with clients, prospects and our community, how do we do it? Are there specific times during the holidays to attract the public’s attention? What are they? What topics to choose? Is it best to make a link with their summer activity so as not to short circuit and block them ? Or on the contrary, make them think and allow them to be one step ahead? All these questions are asked to us by our subscribers. We will help you follow good practices in order to know how to reach your customers properly.
If we take it into account, the global health crisis situation has completely changed the way we work. Most of the world has moved to the home office. New restrictions have emerged such as a general ban on meetings and thus on large events and trade fairs. The closure of hotels and tourism almost everywhere in the world and the closure of restaurants. This has impacted many sectors and individuals. And by this we notice that it is now e-seminars, e-conferences, webinars, e-presentations confirmed on your e-mail that are replacing traditional face-to-face meetings.
To answer the above questions, in order to communicate with your audience, you must first know them, it may seem obvious at first, but it is a challenge for many companies to know exactly who their clients, their persona, are. It is equally important to know the situation they are facing, especially in times of crisis, before trying to communicate. Especially when it comes to the export sector, you have to know your own terrain as well as the terrain of your customers. It is not recommended to send a photo of the beach wishing “Happy Holidays” to an Argentine customer in the middle of August. Because at the same time, the temperature in Argentina is 2 degrees Celsius.
These “dizzy” mistakes can sometimes cost us a contract. So remember to be empathetic to your audience, especially if it’s a client you want to acquire. Adapt yourself to his environment, study the prospects and the environment before any approach. Especially if your client does not live in the same country ! Also, take into account the current crisis situation in each country.
Another helpful tip ! To get your prospect talking about you, whether it’s with colleagues on the phone or even at the dinner table with family, try to talk about impactful topics. It will make an impression on them while remaining simple and accessible. Also, the time at which you send your message is very important. Indeed, most of the time, morning and evening are ideal. Why ? Because these are the hours when we are the most connected. These are the hours when we look at what happened during the day, or during the evening, and what stays in our minds.
Finding the right Keywords
If you manage your own website or blog and send presentations to your customers regularly, know how to advertise them according to your services/products with the right keywords. This is also a very important part of the work to get a good score on SEO platforms such as Google and Bing, so that your prospects will find you in a search.
To make the act of buying faster and easier, your customers, prospects need to trust recommendations. Thus, it is necessary to highlight on your website or existing presentations, customers who are satisfied and brands. Be there for them when they have a question, a dissatisfaction and create a relationship of trust, even if it means sacrificing part of your holiday.
Another way to stay alert is to create presentations with alerts that allow you to send them an email when they’ve downloaded your presentation, then create an automatic reminder system to show them you’re thinking of them. This way, they will come back to you naturally without the need to harass them or make them feel that way.
Renew your content regularly to keep prospects coming back and show them that you innovate regularly. Once a week is fine, otherwise once every two weeks depending on what you are selling. But no less. Today there are more and more ways to automate all this, so you can connect with clients while enjoying your holidays. Try to find the right compromise!
Today’s prospects expect an impeccable presentation, a serious, responsive company, a product available when they choose it and as inexpensive as possible. So it’s up to professionals to adapt and show their good intentions.
So be inventive and send a message on the phone to your prospects offering an online presentation with an industry expert to answer questions on current trends following the crisis. Also, a webinar to find out their needs and thus allow you to innovate thanks to the people who will have connected.
They will appreciate you even more because you will have taken the time to learn about their concerns, their current needs in order to address them and even anticipate their future needs. I leave it up to you to advise your future clients according to your feelings.
Prepare all this well in advance and remember to automate as much as possible while keeping an eye on how everything works properly because remember, your holiday is worth it too. And most importantly, good sales!