How can your customers reach you?
Right now everyone’s saying you need to look after your customers if you want to stay in business. Which – usually – means keeping in touch with them.
Reaching out is good, of course – but what happens when customers or suppliers reach in to talk to you?
The lockdown happened so fast that most people were taken by surprise – so if you were one of them you are very far from alone. If you had contingency plans in place, well done – but if not, now’s the time to take stock.
You may have closed the business – temporarily or permanently. You may still be working, but perhaps with limited opening times or restricted services. Or you may be fully operational.
But whatever your situation, do your customers or suppliers know?
“Isn’t a notice on the door – and on social media – enough?”
Experience says ‘no’. You need to cover all the bases, not just some of them.
“But I emailed all our clients and told them what we were doing!”
Well done – but so did everyone else. As a result, it’s entirely possible your email was ignored, deleted, or simply finished up in the spam bin.
At Stowmarket Chamber our mission is to connect local businesses in the heart of Suffolk – so here’s a quick bullet-point list of the actions you can (and should) take to keep your customers in the loop. Just take one hour to review and update your current terms of trading, your operating hours, and any new contact details, and then…
Kick-off your action plan
- Update your answerphone message
- Redirect your phones
- Update your website
- Update your Google My Business profile
- Pin a post to your Business Facebook page
- Pin a tweet to your Twitter profile
- Update your Instagram profile…
- And check out any other communication channels your customers are likely to use!
Need a little more help or advice? Then why not sign up for our next networking meeting on Zoom – and take the chance to share your questions, and your experience, with other members?
Just visit the home page for links to our online events, via Zoom – and why not check out our online seminars for a chance to refresh your skills, or learn something new?
