Becoming a Trusted Advisor Will Improve Your B2B Experience

Relationships Matter in B2B Customer Experience

You perceive your individual client relationships 1 in 2 ways:

1. You are undervaluing them and missing opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell

2. Or, you are over-confident and at risk for churn

Understanding your clients in more detail and their perception of you will save you from losing some key customers and open the door to creating valuable trusted advisor relationships. Taking the steps to becoming a Trusted Advisor to your clients has benefits beyond increasing revenue.

Most of the time when a sale has been completed, a transactional relationship begins to form between the buyer and seller. Once the sale is complete, the account rep may or may not continue having a relationship with the customer. Depending on how the organization is structured, the client services team may step in and the account rep continues working prospects. It’s just the ways things work, but it doesn’t mean that future growth opportunities are not worth pursuing with clients. Selling is only impactful when its focus is on providing meaningful customer experiences. A smart customer experience approach thinks about keeping their clients around long after they’ve been greeted at the front door.

Explore our datasheets on Customer Experience Management. Read more here.

Why It’s Worth Becoming a Trusted Advisor

Becoming a Trusted Advisor to your clients is beneficial to long-term revenue growth.

Don’t just sell - build strong relationships with your B2B clients through integrity and competency. Build connections with your clients. The longer a customer relationship lasts, then the more profitable it becomes:

1. Loyal customers are worth 10 times more than their initial purchase

2. It’s 6-7 times costlier to acquire a new customer than it is to keep one.

Here’s the takeway: it’s easier to increase your profits through your current customer base. Remember - the higher your client retention rate is, the lower your overall cost. So ask yourself, “Do I want to become a Trusted Advisor that clients perceive as reliable, trustworthy, and impactful?”

Building the Right CX Program

Learning how to manage customer relationships effectively is a rare skill to have – regardless if you’re in B2C or B2B, today’s competitive markets are challenging and it’s no longer about price, but about experience and the value associated with it. Knowledge is powerful stuff, and by learning how to measure the various touch points within your customer relationships and identifying where they need the most attention, you can start to become the Trusted Advisor your clients expect you to be.