6 Principles of Successful Clienteling

Clienteling is the practice is building long-term relationships with customers based on their purchasing history, product research behaviors, and personality traits. Successful clienteling involve getting to know your customers so well you can recommend the right product at the right time and close the sale quicker to make the customer happier. That requires a customer relationship management solution that allows you to fulfill the six principles of successful clinteling.

1. Engage – The first step to building a relationship with your customer is to engage him in conversation about the kinds of products he likes the most.
2. Inspire – Encourage your sales staff to inspire your customers to return and use your products in ways that maybe you nor the manufacturer has thought of.
3. Connect – If you don’t connect with your customers early on, they won’t be back. Get to know them personally so you can focus on the details that will keep them returning to your store over and over again.
4. Promote – Promote the kinds of products that appeals to each customer. This is done only once you’ve engaged the customer, inspired the customer, and connected with the customer.
5. Reward – Reward your best customers with incentives–discounts, specials, coupons, and other perks. If you have a good rewards program for your best and most loyal customers, they’ll remain your best and most loyal customers for life.
6. Retain – It’s easy to retain customers if you’ve worked through the previous five steps. To keep your customers long term, you need to to engage them, inspire them, connect with them, promote the right products to them, and reward them for their loyalty. Customer retention is about getting personal and customizing your approach with every customer from the moment they walk in the door to the moment they walk away from the POS.

How are you doing on these six principles of successful clienteling? Do you have a robust customer relationship management solution to help you personalize your approach to customer service? If not, what can you do to improve your clienteling practices?