• Startup & Investor Resources
  • Recent Posts
  • Search
  • Contact Me

Instigator Blog

Lean Analytics, startups, angel investing, product management and more!

How to Build Strong Relationships with Your Customers

September 22, 2006 by Ben Yoskovitz

Treat them like people.

  • Don’t think of a customer as a disconnected voice on the phone.
  • Don’t think of a customer as a waste of time.
  • Don’t think of a customer as a pain in the ass.
  • Don’t think of a customer as an open checkbook.

You will always have difficult, frustrating, stressful and downright rude clients. They’re people remember? And some people are just like that. But…

The quicker you can turn the relationship from client to vendor into person to person the quicker you’ll be successful with that client and future ones.

Find ways to open the lines of communication, meet on common ground and share interests.

Always react professionally, calmly and respectfully. Feel free to say what you think is best, what you think is right, but always maintain a tone of professionalism.

Get to know them, and the environment in which they work. Understand the motives behind their behaviors.

Losing sight of a customer as a person is going to lose you that customer. And, get jaded from bad experiences with customers, and you could lose more than just a customer or two…your business could be in peril.

Customers are people. Find out who they really are.

[tags]customer service, customer relationships, communication, small business, business[/tags]

Filed Under: Business

Want more content like this?

Signup for free and you'll get new content as soon as it's available. Thanks!

Ben Yoskovitz

Founding Partner at Highline Beta, a hybrid venture studio and VC firm that works with large, ambitious companies to identify new areas of opportunity through internal and external innovation.

Previously I was VP Product at VarageSale and GoInstant (acq. $CRM), and Founding Partner at Year One Labs.

Angel investments include: Breather, Spoiler Alert, SendWithUs and others.

My bio »

Buy Lean Analytics

Lean Analytics

"Lean Analytics is the missing piece of Lean Startup!" - Dan Martell, founder Clarity

Get the book at leananalyticsbook.com

Get updates

I've moved to Focused Chaos a newsletter focused on startups, investing and more. Please visit there to subscribe and get weekly content.

  • Startup & Investor Resources
  • Recent Posts
  • Search
  • Contact Me
Views expressed here are mine and mine alone.

Copyright © 2023 · Built on the Genesis Framework