Not everyone can work at a huge, international business conglomerate with worldwide recognition—in fact, many of us work for and shop from small to medium-sized businesses. From time to time, we might enjoy the grand gesture of a huge sales event from a big company, but we also enjoy the daily comforts of interacting with our local restaurants, dry cleaners, mechanics, independent grocers, or even training companies. The people who have a vital, frequent stake in offering products and services we need are invested in seeing us. Together, we build relationships built on commerce and, more important, on trust.

Our trust in small businesses is what keeps us going back. A Salesforce survey conducted in October, 2019, indicates trust matters more than ever, with consumer loyalty increasing when we have consistent positive interactions with a company. We put our money behind this trust, with 86% stating a willingness to pay a little more for small business services if we can rely on the company. Other important factors for building this business-consumer relationship include:

Excellent customer service.

A more personal experience where we feel recognized by the business and the business appears to understand our needs and preferences.
An ability to offer unique products or services and/or to have a “unique character or flair.”

As a small business ourselves, Gillespie Associates (GA) understands the joys and worries of competing with larger companies to attract customers. Sometimes we can’t win because economies of scale mean bigger companies can accomplish more for less money. However, our ability to provide personal, creative solutions helps us level the field, as does our commitment to user-based, friendly training that focuses on practical knowledge you can apply to your job roles immediately.

Another way GA leverages its relationships is asking our customers for referrals. When we do great work for a company, we ask them to champion us with their connections, increasing our network of quality relationships.

If you’re trying to grow your business, here are some other tips to consider for raising your profile and building relationships.

Tap into the power of social media. Love it or hate it, having an online presence is crucial for sharing your company’s mission, vision, products, services, and events. Maintaining a consistent online message can help you respond to current customers in real-time while making it possible for new customers to find out more about you.
Be a resource for solutions. Whether you offer protips online, distribute a how-to newsletter, or work with HARO (help a reporter out) to provide knowledge-based content for news outlets, position your business as a go-to source. The goodwill you generate makes you memorable and demonstrates your reliability.
Get your business out there. Virtual reality provides a great foundation for building your presence, but then you need to show people what your company can do. Speak at events, participate in trade shows, host customer forums, and go after awards in your industry. Putting an experienced face to a familiar name builds trust.

Consumers want to want us—all we need to do is make sure they know we’re here especially for them. We can keep our good business-consumer relationships going by excelling at the personal touches they can’t get from the big companies.

Need some protips for making sure your business has the organizational processes and strategies in place to support optimal customer service? Check out our blogs and resources at https://www.gillespieassociates.com/.