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Measuring Client Behavior

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Registered users, you'll now receive this newsletter (unless you choose to unsubscribe) as part of your account. This will help you get more from your experience, while simplifying CAN-SPAM compliance.

Before you decide to unsubscribe, spend a moment reading the next couple of issues to see if you don't pick up some useful insights. After all, you registered with this site because you wanted to learn how to improve business relationships, didn't you?

Now the feature presentation ...

In the last lesson, I shared with you why quantifying customer relationship value is important to understand the behavior of a given group. Today's lesson teaches you how to determine how to measure relationship value in your organization.

Stay tuned for next months lesson where you'll apply measures of behavior to improve customer acquisition.

Warmest regards,

Justin Hitt
Consultant, Author & Speaker
https://iunctura.com/

How To Measure Client Behavior So You Can Get More From Your Relationship Building Efforts

By Justin Hitt, Strategic Relationships Consultant, https://iunctura.com/

It takes time and financial resources to build relationships that translate into growth for your business and value to clients. Nevertheless, how do you know you're on the right track?

One way is to measure client behavior in a way that helps you determine what is important to building the relationship. Then adjust your actions according to create more value in every interaction.

Behavioral measurements aren't always obvious on the surface of a relationship. First, you'll need to develop criteria and points of measure that identify desirable traits in your client base. Next, you'll want to use these measures to identify those actions that improve the results of relationship building efforts.

Identifying Points Of Measure You Can Use To Quantify Client Relationships

What is it that clients do that makes them more profitable for you to serve? There are certain characteristics that your loyal and profitable clients have that others will not. Clients display these characteristics, or behaviors, in response to what you do for them.

To quantify client relationships, measure at each customer interaction points various aspects from client prospective. Determine what you measure by how you sell your solution, your industry, and what clients expect.

To identify the points of measure most appropriate to your organization, use the following guidelines:

• What client behaviors are predictive of future profitability? Use what a customer does before a certain event to determine their probability of doing the same event in the future. Look for triggers that signal changes in behavior.
• What aspects of certain interactions are important to a client? Look for measures of time, quality, and quantity as they explain client expectations or their desired results from each interaction.
• After what actions is a client more likely to display this desired behavior? Look for other triggers to future behavior; identify what sequences certain customers take before they reach a certain desired point.
• How frequently does a client display this behavior? The more a client does a certain action, the more likely they will continue that action in the future. If the behavior is negative, then identify what would interrupt this pattern.
• What is it that our company must do to trigger a positive response from a client? Certain efforts on your part will activate response behaviors in clients. These behaviors can be either good or bad depending on the situation.
• Is there a dollar value associated with a particular action taken by a client? Whenever a monetary measure is available, use it, but keep in mind both actual and potential values at each interaction point (including historical and trend measures.)
• How does a client rate our ability to serve their needs at this interaction point? Perhaps the easiest measure to gather, ask your customers to rate each interaction according to a few measurable criteria. Use a simple survey.
• Are there any transactional indicators that a client has taken a certain behavior? These indicators provide a chronological record of events as documented in your customer relationship management or accounting system.
• What inputs are necessary to know a client took a certain action or may take such action in the future? This could range from having a certain level of knowledge about a problem, or to action taken from a certain marketing campaign.
• How recent was an interaction in relation to an opportunity to measure the event? Get clients opinions as soon after an event as possible to create the most accurate results. Often delays can distort the value of your results.
• What is it about this interaction that is more important to a client than other characteristics? Some aspects of an interaction will be more important to some segments of your client base. Identify and focus on these points first.
• How does our company compare with other companies in this specific type of interaction? Use characteristics that describe others in your industry to measuring your own progress. These benchmarks should describe organizations that serve the same type of customer.
• How is what a client expects at this interaction different from other points? At each point of interaction, clients will have different expectations, understanding the different expectations helps you focus on making this interaction more relevant.

It is better to measure each customer interaction point separately for the most complete picture of client behavior, however, if you must start at one single point then start with an initial purchase. You'll find that to quantify client behavior you must understand which behaviors are appropriate for each type of interaction with your organization.

As clients engage your organization their needs, desires, and expectations change in identifiable states that you'll need to be aware of to make the most of relationship building efforts.

While you are measuring individual clients, you'll find certain characteristics are more prevalent in some segments than in others. Use this new knowledge to refine segmentation, improve interactions, and guide the actions you take in building relationships with these groups.

Ways To Turn What You Know Into Stronger Client Relationships And Growth For Your Business

The only way to translate knowledge about clients into growth for your business is to use these measures to change your own behavior. What you learn from measuring customer interactions can improve lead generation, customer retention, and your ability to increase profits.

If you are concerned about the validity or value of these methods, then start with a few strong relationships at a few revenue-producing interactions. You don't have to overhaul your entire customer management system, just test behavior measures against what you are already doing.

The key is that you take everything you learn about your clients and use it to refine your relationship building efforts. Focus on retention, loyalty, and repeat behaviors that create revenue until you develop measures right for your organization. If you focus on mutual objectives from a client prospective, you'll find quickly the justification for incorporating these methods in all areas of your organization.

Application examples include ...

• Measuring client expectations in the service departments identifies a number of self-service areas where clients prefer reference materials instead of calling technical support. This will save both you and your clients' time.
• Observing buying motivators of your more profitable customers gives you insights that improve the relevance of marketing collateral so that you attract a better quality of client.
• Identifying what clients define as a successful interaction tells you exactly where you should be training representatives, and what specific measures clients use to evaluate that experience. You train in what is important to customers, thereby wasting fewer resources.

To turn what you know about clients into growth for your business and greater value for clients, you simply just need to take thoughtful actions. Focus your efforts, start small, and test your way to a system that works for you.The biggest mistake companies make in translating knowledge into results with customers is they try to do too many things.

How To Get The Most From Relationship Building Efforts Through Actions Based On Customer Behavior

Client behavior in response to your actions is your guide for improving relationships and getting more return from your resources. Optimize your relationships building efforts using an "Action » Response Behavior » Feedback" process that incrementally improves the value you provide clients. Define this process for yourself as:

1. Action -- What your company does in the course of interacting with a particular client or segment of clients. This includes how you perform at every customer interaction point, or how your product performs when observed by the client.
2. Response Behavior -- How your client or segment of clients responds to your actions at a particular customer interaction point. These responses can be positive or negative, can advance the relationship or weaken it, and measured by results created or a client's next action.
3. Feedback -- The results of such client behavior including opinions of expectations collected in close proximity of the measured event. An analytical response created by surveying a client after an interaction, looking at monetary exchange at the interaction, and other points of measure that are predictive of outcomes.

Each cycle through this process gathers more details about client concerns, desires, expectations, perceptions, and other points that can improve your value. You'll extract useful insights that improve marketing attraction rates, sales conversion, and client service satisfaction. With just three steps, you'll get more from what you already know about clients than with any other method.

Identify, translate, and take action. By measuring client behavior and using those measures to improve your value, you'll be able to grow your business. Even more importantly, you'll know which relationship building efforts are actually producing results for your bottom line. Imagine spending less time making costly mistakes in your marketing, sales, and service efforts.

How do you measure your client relationships?

© 2004 JWH Consolidated LLC dba Center for Strategic Relations, All rights reserved.
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Are your sales people wasting time while marketing is throwing away money? Learn now to make customer segmentation work for your company, so you can cultivate profits instead of headaches. For a sequential approach to profitable customers ...

Justin Hitt is a strategic relations consultant and the author of "How to Get more Profits by Cultivating Your Best Customers". Clients include business owners and executives of medium to large companies worldwide. He can be reached at https://iunctura.com/