Relational Or Transactional - Are You Giving Your Customers Good Reason to Do Business With You?
I found myself in London's bustling West End quite recently, shopping for clothes, when a man came up to me in one of the big department stores and said something unexpected. It was so unexpected that it got me thinking about business, customers and business relationships. I've been thinking about it for several weeks now and it leads me to ask:
Do you know what type of customers you're dealing with?
There are two main types of buyers in any marketplace: transactional and relational. A transactional customer is the type who is first and foremost interested in price... perhaps a few other things such as speed of delivery and lack of hassle...but primarily price. If the same thing can be bought from another supplier for two pence less, then the customer is off before you can say, "Have a nice day." Transactional customers put little or no feeling into their buying experience. A deal is a deal, the price is the price, and it doesn't matter whether they've bought from you once or a thousand times before - if there is a better deal next door, they're gone. There's zero loyalty.
Relational customers, on the other hand, operate in a wholly different world. A relational customer has a myriad of reasons for doing business with YOU. They are loyal and will come back time and time again. Quality, personal customer service, professionalism, are all important factors. Price is less important; more value for money - which they know they'll get from you because you're trustworthy and honourable, just like they are. They'll come to you with their needs, not your competitor down the road.
Do you know what your style of doing business says about you to your customers?
It works the other way round, too. There are thousands of businesses out there who are not interested in being loyal to you as a customer. If they can sell their product for two pence more to someone else, they'll do it - and if they upset you in the process, well, that's just business, not that they'd notice. I remember only too well from my youthful days in the honey business, there are many who would sell to someone else if they could make a hundred pounds more - and they'd completely forget the many favours you'd done them in the past. A transaction is a transaction; it stands alone, on its own merits, and all previous transactions are completely unconnected history, irrelevant.
As a business owner or manager, relational business can be financially rewarding. Your customer is willing to pay a little more for the best service or product you provide. A little more enables you to put a little extra into the deal, to add the little touches that make this transaction more than 'just another transaction.' Your business friend will come to YOU and do business with YOU - they won't even think about your competitor and what they might provide next door. Relational is rewarding.
So, what did that man in the department store say that got my business brain thinking?
It was about a shirt. I'd never really thought of a shirt as anything other than a transactional thing. A shirt is a shirt. When you need a new shirt, you go to any shop on the High Street...you find one that looks right...and you buy it. End of story. Why would I think about the seller, the manufacturer or the maker? And why would they care about me?
Well, maybe they would care about me if I came back again. Maybe they'd care if I bought a second shirt. Maybe they'd care if I'd paid a little more for a quality shirt. Maybe a shirt is not just a transactional thing. Maybe there's more to this buyer, seller and product interaction.
Are you giving your customers good reason to do business with YOU?
Think about you and your business. Think about the type of relationship that is best for you, your business and your customers. And then identify the action steps you can take to change your relationships for the better and boost your business in the process.
Oh, and what did the man say as he warmly shook my hand like a long-lost friend? "Hello. Thank you for wearing a Ted Baker shirt. I'm Ted Baker."