Building strong relations with customers is an important activity for any organisation. Offering good service along with a reason to come back for more help in forming a relationship with your client. Once a cordial relationship is formed, you have to maintain it as well to make it last.
Maintaining relations with your clients is what will help keep your business running and growing through word of mouth. A strong customer base can bring you more business and increase your goodwill in the market.
If you want to take your company relations with your clients’ one step further, a B2B incentive program may help you in achieving that goal. This kind of program gives your clients a solid reason to come back for more business.
A B2B incentive program may also be known as a business rewards program. What such a program basically does is it gives you clients a way to get more out of your business relation. It gives them an incentive to do business with you. Under such a program, the client gets rewarded for good performance, such as an increase in sales. This motivates the clients to do better for better rewards which directly benefits the overall business. There can be many kinds of rewards, such as discounts, bonuses, rebates, etc. Such a program helps in retaining the clients, thereby aiding in building a solid, loyal customer base.
Here are 7 strategies you can use to create a successful business rewards program:
- Gain their trust and be transparent.
This is the first and foremost thing you need to do if you want your rewards program to be successful. Your clients should be able to get all the information they need to be sure if they want to enroll in the program or not. So, provide full transparency about the process, when and how they will be rewarded, in which form the reward will be provided and when they can use the rewards given to them. Also, you need to assure them that this is for their benefit as well as yours and that their hard work is going to be valued.
- Offer customisation in reward programs.
Every client has a different kind of business approach and may have needs that are not the same as most others. For such clients, you can offer a customised rewards plan that accommodates the client’s requirements and fits the client’s business cycle. Most clients expect to have a personalised plan specific to them. Providing a rewards plan that compliments the client’s objectives and goals will help gain their loyalty. A personalised experience is always appreciated by clients.
- Give attractive incentives
If you give your clients the kind of incentives they are looking for, they are bound to come back to you for more business. It goes without saying, if you give them attractive offers they will want to continue to work with you and you both can benefit from such a reward plan. Incentives can be in the form of discounts, rebates, cash bonuses, first access or free trials of special features and services, gift packages, and many other things. Small things like this may help attract a lot more business and build a loyal customer base.
- Make the clients familiar with your program.
Just like new employees in an organisation go through an onboarding process where they are introduced to the workings of the organisation, in the same way, you can curate a similar process for your clients where they will get to know about your program. Take this opportunity to throw light on the incentives offered and the benefits your clients will get from the program. This will help them understand the process better and lead to better transparency between you and the client. This process will also help make your clients feel welcome which helps in increasing their contribution to your business and having good relations with them.
- Create a progressive rewards strategy.
Having a program that offers incentives to the clients based on their level on the program might turn out to be beneficial for your business. Some clients have a higher level of business than others, such clients can give you good returns. Having a program that ranks your clients and offers them incentives accordingly will help in motivating them to boost participation to get better rewards; all of which benefits you in the long run. All clients can start at the base level of the program and gradually move up the ladder with a higher contribution.
- Make your incentive plan accessible
Sometimes clients are deterred by reward plans because they can be complicated and confusing. Making it easy for the client to understand helps in removing that confusion and frustration. They will be more willing to be a part of the program if they are able to understand the system and redeem their rewards easily. Make the process hassle-free and easily accessible. This can be done through mobile applications or making a simple profile for the client on your website where they can view their activity and rewards received.
- Regular follow-ups.
Once the clients are a part of the program, regularly check in with them and get their feedback. This will help in improving customer experience, which is ultimately important for retaining them. Your customers’ feedback is valuable in curating a customised incentive plan and helps in giving them the experience that encourages them to keep working with you. You can regularly get an insight into what the customer is facing and accordingly improve or maintain their plan. You may also introduce new incentives that match the customer’s expectations based on their feedback.
The above 7 strategies will help you in creating a successful B2B incentive program that is beneficial for both your client and you. Programs for B2B incentives can really help you take your partner relationships to the next level and build long-lasting relations with business partners.
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