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How are you staying in touch with your customers during this COVID-19 outbreak?

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As a volunteer counselor, my clients require solid social networking, continued contact on the web and individual counseling by email and similar web based support.

With federal economic assistance coming on line to small business through the states, the application process for small businesses in distress is critical. I am training in that area with U.S. SBA web based learning to permit advising my clients in that area.

Social networking and web based contact are economical, effective and necessary during this critical period.

https://www.smalltofeds.com/2015/05/why-social-network-to-promote-your.html

Report Kenneth's answer

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From an advertising standpoint we are not reaching out to our customers through outbound sales calls. Our support channels are open, we are staying connected with our customers through social media, email, via phone calls, and in our retail spaces we are limiting the amount of customers in our doors but it’s important to support our communities during these times. Just showing that you are there to support your customers will help drive sales.

If your main touchpoint for customers is via email advertising/social media advertising, I would advise you take a step back and revise some of your messaging to ensure it’s sensitive towards those who may not be able to leave their house.

I personally don’t work with customers on a day to day basis, but I support stores that do. When I’m reaching out to the teams that support our consumers, we are staying away from conversations around performance and just giving our peers and our direct reports the opportunity to exhale and take their minds away from our new normal status. Reinforcing that we are all in this together will help build that camaraderie between you, your peers, and the customers that you support which in turn will hopefully boost your initial performance and give you a solid consumer base to return back to when this is all over

Report Matthew's answer

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Yes, social networking is critical during these times as well as effective and economical.

That's excellent that you've allowed for some breathing room for your employees. The reinforcement that we are in this together does bring a spirit of community to the forefront that transcends even to the customers during this turbulent time.

Report Kimberly's answer

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The best way to be in touch with your customers is through constant communication via mail and social media netowkring.

I also arrnage for suitable videos calls and trying to get connected it helps in two way a) Relationship building in this tought times b) Availability of time frame give us cution to think beyond the scope possible and helpful to generate more synergy together

So better to pass necessary communication on regular basis through suitable mode of media according to your business

Report Vishrut's answer

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I'd say we are making ourselves available to our customers through a multi-faceted approach, meeting them where and how they'd like to engage.

For example, allowing for virtual engagements and self-service is important.

For my B2B sellers, we are also finding that clients are answering their phones and engaging in longer and more meaningful conversations than before. In fact voice traffic is 2x higher than a typical Mother's Day, now. So while we need to offer our customers digital options for engaging (webinars, email, online chat, etc), I see the resurgence of a good old fashion phone call to our clients- "Hi checking in. How are you? Do you need anything right now?" Goes a very long way.

Report Robyn's answer

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Virtual meetings ! spending an extra few minutes on the phone just checking in with them personally .. A proactive email just doing a check in and letting them know we are available and are fully operational to assist them . Also letting them know about some 90 day free trial offers that may help them through the next 90 days ..

How can we help you ... is a very simple statement that works

Report Debbie's answer

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Short emails/calls asking about their business, Stay away from selling first, Be a partner not a vendor, and Linkedin.

Report Jesse's answer

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There is great services out there that offer communication on different levels. Depending on the type of work/communication that you need. There is also collaboration tools like Gsuite and office 365 that can help.

Report Will's answer

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I love the idea of being a partner and not a vendor. That is something that I am reinforcing on my end as well.

Report Kimberly's answer

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Depending on your type of business or services, if you have a phone list, call your customers and check in.

" Hi is this Doris? Hi Doris this is ( enter name). How are you doing during this time? Listen to them.

I hope everything continues to look up for you. I wanted to thank you for your past business and if you need anything from us, we are a call or message on our website away. I can do non-contact delivery if needed. Do you have any needs today?

This shows you care and you're available to them.

Report Scott's answer

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It's so critical during times like this to think about the mediums of communication we are leveraging to connect with. For both existing and new clients, it may be easier for you to send an email but the email comes across typically as a "sales pitch" vs. a genuine touch point of how your customer is doing. It is important to pick up the phone and lead with authenticity. More than likely, you are calling to provide help to your customer or check in to see how they are doing. During these unprecedented times, having this touch point in the form of a phone call (or even text message if they do not answer right away) gives a personalized touch that will keep your customer focused on your intent of helping them vs. trying to sell them something during a crisis.

Report Jake's answer

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Communication is key right now. In the short term I feel the focus really need to be about interaction with customers/clients, even when there isn't revenue to be made. We all hope that this will end soon and so the businesses that care the most for their customers during this time are the businesses that they will want to support when they have the opportunity. It is also important not to use desperation as a source to get help. Only because there are a lot of people that are feeling the same pain right now and what people really want to hear is that you are supporting them.

Ensure that you have the right avenues to stay in touch with your customers, and think of ways your business can help them in this time of need. If you are able to offer something up to help them that will greatly improve how things are going for them, offer it up as a trial/short term offering/or reduced price. Gaining customers during a time like this is not easy so try to capitalize on it if at all possible as it allows everyone to win.

Report Jason's answer

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Social Media is a amazing tool that you can use to keep in touch with your customers. Most loyal customers should always have your cell phone and have a way to reach you at all time rather it be text, messaging or calling.

Report Johnse's answer

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As I operate in B2B space with limited no. of clients, my communication method with them has been rather simple. First I text time and ask when they will be free to talk? At the agreed time, either he/she or I call to discuss the challenges & opportunities. Picking up the phone still works the best.

Report Pashuupati's answer

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We are staying in touch with our customers in a variety of ways. We are posting on social media, sending out emails regarding our changed operating ours (at our retail stores), emphasizing that we're here to help and directing customers to available channels to reach us (over the phone, on social media, in stores with an appointment, mask and social distancing). We're also publishing ads showing our Covid response and emphasizing our commitment to help our customers and communities. I'm not sure what business you're in, but I recommend calling or email existing clients and just checking in with them human to human and see how they're doing, then you can transition into talking about how your business can help them during these tough times. If you're also looking for new clients, I recommend making or using your existing social media page to talk about your Covid response and how you can help new clients whether these times with your product. Be open to using video conferencing services for meetings with your clients. WebEx, Zoom and Bluejeans are great platforms for video conferencing.

Report Nicolas's answer

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If you have the ability to determine your customers evolving needs and have the ability to provide a solution to those needs then reaching out to discuss is a good idea. A good old fashion phone call has been resonating well, when the lead in is a 'check in on their new operating model' and allow the discussion to flow per the customers guided direction. When you or your team have an opportunity, interject with your products/services that can help improve their current way of doing business. This situation is undoubtedly going to change the way that businesses and consumers operate going forward, take the time to let your customers know you are there for them and are evolving as well to meet current and future needs.

Report Dave's answer

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We are reaching out to our customers in various ways such as phone call, email and other digital methods in order to offer support and to check in during this time of need. It is very important to make sure that your genuine intent is to help even if it is just to talk, stay in touch, or offer advice on some type of situation.

Assuming that you have a database and record of all of your customers, you should make it a point to find a way to reach all of them in some meaningful way during this time. Be very careful NOT to come across as opportunistic or just trying to sell your product or solution. There are many ways to do this.

In the end, your customers (and your employees) will remember how you treated them during this time.

Report Mark's answer

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This is the perfect time for customer contacts. We are doing that via using Marketo - an email platform that allows the sender to work with Marketing or other internal organizations to craft a universal message. Once the message is created Marketo allows the sender to create a distribution list and with the stroke of a key, multiple emails can be delivered to customers and prospects. The email can be a call-to-action or simply a checking in to see how your business is weathering the COVID-19 pandemic. We are careful to lead with empathy and not with a sales pitch. This is a time to balance genuine care for the business owner with products and services that might make it easier for them to thrive during this time. Another way is simply commitment to make X number of calls/day to your customer base. Depending on module or territory size this can be time consuming, but worth while since these are the times that customers will remember how they were treated by the suppliers. We have set Activity goals for each of our sales teams (an activity can be a phone call or email). This helps ensure wide and deep coverage of the base.

Report Michael's answer

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Marketo and making calls sounds like a very interesting concept. I've heard this from a number of small and micro businesses that they have changed the way in which they are reaching out to their customer base. The general theme I am hearing is to make sure that you are not coming across as too opportunistic during this turbulent time.

Report Kimberly's answer

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