By J’Nel Wright
In these uncertain times, our thoughts turn immediately to the health and safety of loved ones. But as the crisis continues, we can’t help but be concerned for the financial state of local business. Now, more than ever, the solvency of your company depends on your ability to remain connected with your customers.
At Osmond Marketing, we’ve spent almost a decade perfecting a remote work business operations model that blends technology with a personal, human touch. With this formula, we’ve been able to supersede current workplace challenges and restrictions and continue providing superior and consistent services for our customers.
If your company is new to a remote work operations model, first, congratulations; we applaud any organization that is turning to technology to retain their workforce and remain in operation. Second, there are many things we’ve learned through our experience that can make a huge difference in the success of your organization’s transition. Here are the three top lessons we’ve learned to ensure your focus remains on your clients.
1. Maintain Consistency
So much of our work relationships rely on trust. Whether it’s hosting weekly meetings every Wednesday or providing reports with the latest marketing campaign figures every Friday, our customers count on us to honor those scheduled appointments.
The results of a customer experience survey conducted by Alfonso Pulido, Dorian Stone, and John Stevel found that consistency of positive customer-experience emotions impacted customer satisfaction and loyalty. “We also found that consistency is particularly important to forge a relationship of trust with customers,” they concluded.
Our clients trust us with their brand, their vision for taking their company to the next level, their budget, and their personal data. By incorporating a consistent plan, fortified by technology, project managers can maintain those valued customer relationships.
2. Ensure Data Security
Many of our clients are part of the skilled nursing and healthcare industry, so maintaining data security is a priority. To ensure that the devices our employees and clients use are safe, we focus on cloud-based technologies for conducting meetings, project management, and team collaboration.
“A company culture focused on data security is essential, especially as more employees than ever are using non-company devices,” explain Salesforce experts. “Practices such as telecommuting and working on mobile devices are some of the biggest threats to data security if access and security updates aren’t properly managed.”
We limit our use of collaborative and project management software to programs that are easy for our clients to use but are password protected and allow us to control access to data.
“Allowing employees to work across devices increases productivity, job satisfaction, and ultimately your bottom line. Therefore, education and technology controls must be strong in order to keep company data secure,” says Salesforce.com.
3. Promote Accessibility
It seems like society is in a frenzy. At times like these, everybody (especially customers) needs feedback, solutions, and reassurance that things are under control. We reaffirm that accessibility in the way customers can contact us directly and through navigating our website.
Not only do we communicate regularly with our clients, but we are also accessible to other coworkers to ensure we are working as a team to design and present the best possible products for our customers. Like we always say, keeping valued customers is much easier than trying to find new ones, so it’s important we send a clear message that we value our clients’ time and input on marketing projects and strategies.
Although the future of the traditional small business model remains uncertain amid global hardships, one thing you can count on is the impact emerging technologies and flexible work environments will have on building and maintaining valued customer relationships.
At Osmond Marketing, we are proud of the work we’ve done to create a successful remote work environment. And we are thrilled that by incorporating business plans that promote consistency, security, and accessibility, our focus can remain on the things that matter most: our customers.