Client Appreciation is a Key to Business Growth

Monk and interfaith scholar David Steindl-Rast first proposed the concept that being grateful leads to happiness via TED Talks. Similarly, in a business setting, being appreciative of your clients and business partners leads to marketing success and satisfaction for both parties. This is important as it is the foundation for business growth.

How an “Attitude of Gratitude” is a Foundation for Marketing Success

Marketing is the profession of growth. This by itself should be enough to make us the most positive and enthusiastic profession out there. But with the rise of digital marketing, the volumes of data available and the micro-control emerging over the influence mechanisms to drive behaviours, marketing can lose sight of this optimism.

In fact, marketing can sometimes appear to be downright cynical and manipulative in its craft. However, this is tantamount to thinking that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole and loses sight of how central respecting your customer is to a business’s long-term success.

At Halmyre, we are a firm believer in the power of gratitude as a driver of great marketing. Its key is that it unlocks a mindset of empathy for your customer’s success. In B2B situations especially, this can go further and translates to a focus on the success of your client’s customers.

Developing a customer-centric mindset is key – Halmyre calls this an “attitude of gratitude.”

Beyond empathy, it’s a concept of respect: you are respecting what your audience’s wants and needs are, what makes them tick. This approach to marketing leaves you open to hearing how your organization can better connect with what matters to your customers. It will, in fact, make you a better marketing organization all the way around.

And when you’re a better marketing organization you will be a better growth organization.

This mindset will make marketing and the ability for your organization to earn profits more successful. When organizations show their clients that they are valued, they will reciprocate with loyalty and advocacy.

Three Ways to Develop the Habit of “Active Listening” and Being Empathetic to Your Customers

The effort involves more than a mutual agreement over the terms of a contract on paper or an exchange of a firm handshake.

1. Do the Right Research

In order to actively listen to your customers, you should be doing the right research. This means more than just sending out a simple survey, but actively getting to the root of your customer’s thoughts, beliefs, wants and needs through interviews with key stakeholders. Knowing these details will help you empathize with them and better tweak your services and interactions to suit their needs.

But it doesn’t stop there – your customers’ attitudes and beliefs are always changing, and research should be conducted annually for your organization to stay in touch.

2. Management Toolkit of Personas

In B2B settings, personas allow organizations to get to know clients more intimately and empathize through detailed research about their customer base. Personas can help you learn about specific wants, needs and motivations of people to empathize, target and cater to them.

Organizations should put as much effort into client appreciation efforts as attracting new clients. Embodying gratitude and showing empathy for your customers will truly make a qualitative difference in your organization’s services and will lead to long-term success for both parties.

3. Develop a Roadmap for Building Customer Journeys That Listen and Respond to their Needs

Your customer journeys should reflect that you are grateful for their business and their voice in making your business better. By creating more efficient customer journeys, you can remove what frustrates your customers and add in processes that can fulfill their wants and needs. This will leave customers feeling the gratitude you have for their business.

Actively listening to your clients and marketing with gratitude is a win-win situation. While making your customers feel appreciated, you are also able to get to know and empathize with your customers’ wants and needs to better market to them. Use these three strategies to add more gratitude into your organization’s marketing.