The importance of Partnership in Business – Apptivo

Managing a business of any scale is not a comfortable exercise. Unless an organized approach is put together and the guidelines are clear, employees will face setbacks and confusion at every stage. It could be while reaching out to a customer, follow-ups, internal communication, ticket escalations, or reaching out to someone from another department. While this scenario applies to employee cooperation, the fundamental pillars of an effective business are customers. Customers can make or break a business and hence, it is crucial for business owners to focus on creating a partnership between their business and customer base. In short, a successful partnership is a prerequisite for smooth client relationship management.

There can be several types of partnership, however, the main purpose of businesses for utilizing this partnership agreement is to create an ecosystem where both the buyer’s intent and seller’s intent are achieved. If there is a simple relation of selling and buying goods and services between customers and companies, then the relationship becomes very fragile. Here, the customer will start considering your product as one among the many available in the market. This is not an ideal way of transacting in the long run and they will soon realize that they have other companies from where they can make a purchase. To make your products and services the #1 priority of your customers, it is important to leverage the advantages of partnership for a successful business. By this, the customer churn rate will be decreased and the lifetime value of customers will rise compared to other competitors in your industry.

In this blog, we have discussed the basics of customer partnership and broken down the importance of partnership in any business.

What is Customer Partnership?

Customer partnership is more than just putting oneself in the customer’s shoes or empathizing with customer demands. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that focuses on being profitable for both parties. Here, business and customers. Managing customer relationships is the starting point of an effective customer partnership which is a collaboration of shared beliefs, ideas, profits, and losses. Some of the big brands across the planet have opted for this business-customer model to understand the customer requirements beforehand and introduce innovative solutions that meet their needs.

When you go through the history of successful businesses, you will be overwhelmed by the actions they have taken to strengthen their partnership with customers. They particularly focus on fortifying the existing customer base. According to a study, it is more effective to sell to an existing customer than to acquire new customers. Hence, by focusing on strengthening the relationship with existing customers, businesses can reduce the additional costs of marketing and focus more on increasing the lifetime value of customers. It will also reduce the pressure on sales teams to bring in more leads continuously to keep the business running. Rather, the sales teams can focus on converting more qualified leads.

Visualize this – You have been running a business for the past three years, and you are looking to add modern, innovative tools. If your own R&D team works on planning and developing the right tools, it is a normal business process. On the other hand, if you send emails to your customers welcoming their ideas and opinions, it becomes a partnership. Here, the opinions and the thought process of customers will take the front seat when the features are planned and developed. When such a model is implemented in the business, the customer relations management approach not only receives a boost but also moves to the next level called Customer Partnership. This is because, both the customers and business are profited by implementing a product that satisfies the business revenue and customer needs.

Top 5 Importance Of Partnership In Organizations

Though there are a number of advantages of general partnership in business, having a strategic partnership agreement adds a different value to your company where you focus on narrowing down the benefits and fulfilling the exact customer requirement. In this section, we have simplified the importance of partnership with customers to fortify your business and how Apptivo helps businesses across the globe to meet their business goals and missions.

1. Strategic Advantage

Loyalty and trust are the foremost characteristics of any partnership and this is apt when we focus on customer partnership. Businesses mainly concentrate on winning the trust of customers and converting them into loyal customers.

When customers trust your brand, they automatically develop an interest in your products and services especially, when there is the presence of customer partnership in your business. This opens the door for sharing of ideas, information, and reviews between the business and customers.

This gives a strategic advantage for businesses to plan and develop a product that stands synonymous with user requirements. Moreover, businesses can analyze the customer based on territory and target the marketing strategy for increased business value.

By utilizing a Sales Customer Relationship Management Software like Apptivo, businesses can attain the trust and loyalty of customers and stay ahead of the competition. The different apps available in Apptivo make it possible to create a partnership with customers.

2. Increase in Customer Base

Without customers, there is no business and customers keep the business going. When customers trust your products and services, they will refer your products or services to their peer groups, families, and friends.

According to Jeff Bezos, “If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful”. There is no debate that word of mouth is a powerful tool and by building a partnership with customers, businesses can easily market their brands through their existing customers.

The most basic prerequisite for increasing customer base through word of mouth is delivering exceptional customer service. According to a study, 90% of customers consider the resolution of their issues as their most important concern when it is about customer service. By leveraging the right Ticketing Software like Apptivo, you can easily surpass the customer expectations and gain their satisfaction.

This doesn’t stop here! Customers who are delighted by your products or services will share their views and experiences through social media handles and review sites. This will automatically improve your brand visibility and bring in more leads.

3. Longer Lifetime

The two methods through which businesses can increase their brand lifetime are by acquiring new customers and retaining the existing customer base. Of the two, the latter is more affordable and the investment required is comparatively less.

According to Stats, 76% of companies agree that customer lifetime value is an important concept in their organization. By increasing the focus on customer retention, customers can also attain new customers. As discussed in the previous section, a good customer experience can make them bring in referrals.

With the integration of Apptivo customer relationship management and ticketing facilities into your business, you can manage the database, deliver timely customer service, and improve the lifetime value of your business.

As the lifetime of your business increases, the visibility of your brand also expands. This in turn makes your business known among the general public.

4. Generate Stable Revenue

According to Bain, companies that excel at customer service generate 4% to 8% higher revenue when compared to others in the industry. A good example of this is how customers who experience better customer service are more likely to retain their transactions with your business rather than signing up for a new company.

With the rise in the incorporation of self-service, customers prefer more on getting the task done by themselves instead of reaching out to multiple support teams and waiting in the queue. Moreover, self-service empowers the customers and creates a sense of trust towards your brand.

Businesses provide an exclusive self-service customer portal that is completely secure to their customers to fortify the partnership. By doing so, customers can interact directly with the concerned authorities and teams.

It is recommended to form a partnership where customers feel that they have an upper hand and make them stand out from the conventional interaction methods. This keeps them more inclined towards your service while enjoying the benefits of partnership in business. The exclusive customer service portal of Apptivo empowers customers to interact effortlessly with your employees and stay updated on their tickets.

5. Generate Stable Revenue

Businesses invest in customer relationship systems, not just to manage customer relations. The main motive behind investments in multiple applications, tools, and customer service is to generate revenue and stabilize it. The implementation of scientific methods reduces the probability of errors and boosts your productivity.

The importance of partnerships and collaborations with customers is to develop a niche for your brand and stabilize the revenue generation. Trust, loyalty, customer retention, and referrals ensure stability for business. While investigating the purpose of partnership on the revenue front, you will realize that there is more chance of generating a stable revenue.

By utilizing the client relationship management application, businesses can close more deals faster, reduce overhead costs, track the revenue, send automatic reminders on pending payments, and make profits more than investments.

Also, the reports and dashboards features available in the CRM application narrows down the necessary stats, measures the revenue generated, and quickly predicts the revenue for the upcoming quarters. Moreover, these tools also segregate the revenue generated based on employees and teams.

In this section, we have listed the top benefits of partnership in any organization. Along with this, there are other benefits, and depending on your business purpose, the partnership tends to change. However, it is advisable to analyze the advantages provided through partnership to avert any type of losses through the process. It is also recommended to obtain the advice of legal experts to prevent any type of unforeseen liabilities in the future.

Conclusion

Customer partnership is very crucial for better business workflow and increased productivity. When you leverage the concept of customer partnership in your business, you will be ahead of your competitors and obtain better business visibility. The importance of partnership in business is constant, and it only keeps expanding as your business grows. Hence, businesses should analyze their customer base and segment them accordingly for better outputs. When a strategic partnership is put into force, it becomes a simple task for companies to make a difference in the industry.

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