One of the fundamental concepts of marketing is attracting new customers. It is also just as important to maintain that customer base once you do get interaction with them. And, although it is often hard to do, it’s critical that you always show them that they are right. In short, you want customers to know you value their opinion of your business. You can do this in various ways, especially in the following methods.

#1: Make Your Policies Known

Communication is important in all forms of marketing. When it comes to showing customers that you really care, though, sometimes you have to put it in writing. For example, if a new customer comes to your website and wants to buy, but isn’t quite sure who you are, a customer service policy that shows that you value their opinion matters.

#2: Ask Your Customers for Feedback

The only way for your business to grow is to ask for feedback and to adapt to it. For example, if your business receives feedback from visitors to the website that are looking for a service you do not offer, it may be time to go back to your marketing methods and determine if you may be targeting the wrong people. It is also important to look at feedback on your customer’s experiences and adapt that into your business model.

#3: Wow Them with Your Passion

Employees and customers who see that you, as a business owner, are passionate about your craft are going to be more encouraged to work with you. Show passion about the entire industry, whether it is about new products available or new construction methods. Being passionate is simply catchy. It is something that will draw people to you.

#4: Communicate with Your Front Line

When you are committed to providing great customer service, you need to do more than just act on your own. You need to ensure that the people who will first engage new customers get this information. That could be through your website or with your sales professionals. The key is to make sure that they know how important customer satisfaction is to you.

#5: Genuinely Care

When you hear a complaint, don’t brush it off or look the other way. Find the best way to resolve the problem, learn from the mistake, and improve the experience for the next customer.

When you really want to make a difference in your customer’s experience, you need to focus on showing that their opinion matters the most to you. It is important for you to communicate openly with your staff regarding these needs. If your employees don’t know your customer’s matter, the customer will not know either.

Mark van Berkel is Founder and President of Hunch Manifest Inc. While managing business operations he also leads the team in designing semantic technology to provide personalized online presence and reputation management services. Prior to forming the company, he was consultant in enterprise software projects to companies including Panasonic, Shell, and General Electric and was an Architect for a world leading human capital management software-as-a-service. Mark holds a Bachelor of Information Systems from StFX University and did his graduate studies at University of Toronto, getting a MEng Industrial Information Engineering and an MBA, Strategy and Innovation from the Rotman School of Management. In 2006 he published a 170 page report as a researcher at the Semantic Technologies Lab at the University of Toronto and built a semantic technology prototype for SAP Research Labs. Connect with Mark on LinkedIn or Twitter. Mark is also certified in Google Analytics.