How to Maintain Relationships Partners


Business-to-business companies know the importance of maintaining healthy customer relationships. It’s more expensive to acquire customers than to retain them, so keeping everyone happy and continuing to work smoothly together saves both parties a significant amount of time and money. When it comes to the e-commerce space, though, cultivating those relationships can be tricky. If you only ever communicate online because you are hundreds of miles apart, adding personal touches like lunches and sending flowers that your brick-and-mortar counterparts get to do becomes challenging. There are other ways to be a good partner, so here are some tips for staying close with online vendors and customers.

  • Respect their intelligence
Businesses that interact with consumers more often than other companies do not always know their customers’ level of expertise in their industry.  however, can be more technical with one another. Do not be afraid to give your partners more information than they ask for: odds are they will appreciate it, and you will not have to worry about altering your language to be generic. Go ahead and let your vendors and customers relish in all that you know (you may spare yourself from sending dozens of emails and calls). When you respect their intelligence, all parties can be more productive.
  • Listen to what they have to say
Just because your business is virtual does not mean you and your customers need to be impersonal with one another, limiting friendliness to smiley faces and exclamation points in messages. You can involve them much more closely with a seat on your customer advisory board.
  • Participate in each others’ content strategy
If you want to make your alliances public, you and your partners can get involved with each other’s content strategies. Retweet and share your suppliers’ and customers’ social media posts and ask them to share your own. Whenever your partners have something good happening, get excited for them on your channels. Maybe you can even come to an arrangement where you guest write on one another’s blogs or newsletters (you are probably familiar enough with your partners’ businesses and customer bases to do so, and it will help you tap into their audiences).

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