Trusted partnerships… why it’s worth it

Some customers come and go frequently and some stick around for years and years, forming trusted partnerships. There are lots of reasons for this. But why do some customers keep coming back and others don’t?

If a customer doesn’t return for repeat business, it could be something simple like a lack of availability from their ‘regular’ supplier, an urgent one-off need must be filled, or many other things. Partnerships don’t happen overnight, fostering a long-term relationship is worth the effort.

Some customers, however, do have the potential to place repeat orders for products or services. So what’s the difference and how do you keep them coming back?

The customers that keep coming back become ‘partners’ in a sense and both parties begin to feel trust and reliability towards each other. This is the sort of relationship we encourage with our customers at Merit Display.

There are so many benefits to building long-term relationships in business. Fostering a working framework that makes things more efficient and smoother for everyone involved is a win-win.

Supplier benefits

As a supplier continues to work with a specific brand and customer, they become more familiar with the audience that the customer is targeting. This allows the supplier to become more involved in the marketing campaign development, offering sound advice and suggestions.

The supplier can meet the needs of the customer on a changing basis. The differing needs of the customer can more easily be forecast and met proactively, giving the supplier the time and reflection needed to support each customer in the best possible way.

Customer benefits

The supplier is the expert in the products they produce and the services they provide. As such, they can help develop the project outline for any order to help meet the needs of the customer in the best way possible.

This flexibility in partnering works well for everyone long-term as the customer can trust the supplier more fully as the design and development for each project is likely to meet their needs quickly without having to help a new supplier develop and understanding of the ethos, values and brand all over again. It gives suppliers the opportunity to work on their customer’s brand to develop a consistent understanding of the overall business.

These business-to-business partnerships can develop in many ways, sometimes it’s a basic request for a one-off service. The outcome of that project may be the start of something bigger and this is why every job must be prioritised as a potential longer-term relationship, even if it doesn’t feel like there’s potential for repeat business.

If a supplier can add value to the customer’s offer, marketing campaigns or even their brand awareness, it could be just the thing that sparks an interest in a partnership to develop.

Do you have similar business values?

Your business values and culture also play a part in whether a customer will return. It can come down to lots of little things, but we summarise it into four main areas of focus that could attract repeat business if done well.

At Merit Display this our values speak clearly about how we work and our business culture. This is communicated in everything we do and it shows in the relationships that we’ve fostered with our customers over many years.

1. Team – Does your team work together and demonstrate honesty and commitment in their day-to-day work? This is something that is easily ‘felt’ when a customer works with you. It’s worth making sure you’re communicating the right message.

2. Customer First – Do you feel like your supplier is flexible to your needs? Can you depend on them and trust that they’ll deliver on time?

3. Quality – Getting things right – this is one of the most important things for the customer and should be a priority. Things need to be accurate, consistent, and on-time.

4. Attitude – Is your team happy to solve customer problems and do they find a way to say ‘yes’ whenever possible? Your team needs to be solution focused and helpful.

All four of these core values must work together to create an overall business culture that is helpful and able to support customers. You have to be there to solve problems and do it well in order to gain customer trust. This is the key to repeat supplier business.

Contact our Team

Working with one supplier, like Merit Display, is important because it gives the customer confidence, they know they’re getting brand consistency and colour matching through multiple substrates and print methods (a tough task at the best of times). Using a supplier that can do this all under one roof is quicker, more cost effective and gives the customer greater peace of mind.

Keeping the design, production and full project in perspective while at the same time keeping true to your core values means you’ve got the perfect combination for repeat customers and long-term partnerships in business.

Contact Merit Display today to talk to the team and start your partnership with us!