The following post comes to us from Keith Coppersmith, an experienced business consultant who serves small businesses and startups. Learn more about Keith in his bio following this article.
Of all the key factors that make the business world go ‘round, money is hardly the most important one. Rather, there are many other factors that will determine the success of a brand in a competitive industry, and one of the most crucial components is, of course, communication. Without honest, timely, and transparent communication between a brand and its clients, everything can come tumbling down rather quickly as their satisfaction begins to drop and they start looking for companies that offer more forward-looking communication methods.
Technology is the name of the game here, because it stands to take your communication strategy to the next level and help you boost client retention and satisfaction in the long run. Here are the five simple tech solutions you need to integrate into your communication strategy.
Automate meeting schedules with AI
Artificial intelligence technology has become the foundation of almost every modern app and business tool, and for a number of compelling reasons. As AI continues to reshape entire industries, making every process more efficient and effective, business leaders are finding ways to integrate artificial intelligence into the communication and organization processes.
One such example is AI scheduling. Many companies are nowadays outsourcing meeting scheduling to AI in order to alleviate some of the pressure off their employees and make the scheduling process more reliable.
That said, perhaps you don’t feel comfortable having a machine communicate the details of every meeting with your clients. In that case, you can simply upgrade the scheduling process by integrating smart apps that will allow your clients to pick the times that suit them the most, and then automatically log it into your calendar and send notifications to all relevant parties.
Send out reminders and news automatically
Speaking of automating various processes relating to meetings and client communication, another great way you can make everything more efficient is to send out automatic reminders, news, and even invoices. Nowadays, you can automate almost any form of communication, and it’s important that you don’t let anything slip through the cracks if you’re trying to keep your clients satisfied over the long term. Needless to say, you know how easy it can be for a small piece of information to slip through the cracks.
That’s why it would be a wise decision to integrate automatic reminders for everything that’s relevant. For example, if you automate the invoicing process, you can not only improve payment speed and efficiency, but you will also capitalize on client happiness. Likewise, you can keep clients in the loop with automated emails, and help them stay informed of your meeting schedule with regular reminders.
Automate the reporting process
The next crucial process you need to automate and make more efficient use of your time with technology is reporting. Creating reports is not only an important task that will keep your clients happy and allow them to monitor progress, but it also becomes a time-consuming task the more detailed of a report you try to make. Needless to say, there’s plenty of room for error here, and the time you spend making reports could be better utilized to achieve other goals.
This is why forward-looking companies are nowadays leveraging smart reporting software to expedite the entire process and minimize the risk of error. It’s important that you deliver your reports to your clients in a timely manner, but also with the right information and all of the details necessary to keep every project moving forward – this is something that is best achieved with smart technology.
Combine chat apps with chatbots
Next, be sure to make yourself readily available to your clients on all relevant communication platforms. Sure, phone and email communication with real people are still ideal, but nowadays clients are more inclined to talk to the brands they work with in real time. This can mean that they’ll call you over the phone, send you a text message, or ask for a quick video call – and you have to be ready and available for all.
That said, sometimes your clients will just want a simple answer to a basic question. If they want to schedule a meeting with you sometime next week, or ask about a certain feature regarding your products or services, then a smart chatbot can help resolve simple inquiries and problems to save everyone time and money.
Work together in the cloud
And finally, be sure to migrate all of your processes to the cloud if you haven’t already. Cloud computing makes brand-client communication a breeze, and it allows you to integrate your clients into the relevant projects and keep them in the loop at all times, collaborate with them in real time, and just get things done much faster. In turn, this will save you time and money, raise client satisfaction, improve employee productivity, and help you grow your business safely.
Wrapping up
Technology aims to improve and elevate all business processes, including the way you communicate with your clients. Integrating these solutions will not only help you communicate better, but will invariably lead to faster business growth in the years to come.
What types of technology do you employ to help your business run leaner and more efficiently? Share your tips or ask a question in the comments below!
About the Author: Keith Coppersmith is an Adelaide based business consultant with a degree in Media Management. With experience in numerous small businesses and startups, he enjoys giving advice on all things marketing.