Building any business requires a lot of time and effort in the initial startup and product launch phases. But building a B2B business is a little different. The sales cycle is often longer (sometimes taking up to 90 days to close), and building a solid foundation of client relationships can take even more time. In fact, some industries require those relationships in order to run. The financial services industry is one of them.
The financial services industry involves both consumers and businesses, but operating a business in the financial services industry where everyone is a “consumer” in some form, this means that customer-centric relationships are a must today.
How to Build a Better Relationship with Customers
As B2B businesses, it’s important to show customers that they can trust you, and that they see the value of your products and/ or services over your competitors. Your competitive edge has to be visible and transparent. Your customers need to be able to see the value and the experience with your business, and how that experience is different from your competitor.
How Technology Can Help
More and more businesses in the financial services industry are turning to technology for help in navigating the complexities of building customer relationships in the digital age. Fintech is one example of technology used to enable the industry, and to even drive technological innovation in financial services.
In fact, in 2015 and 2016, Fintech proved to be on of the most promising industries, and will continue to quickly evolve in 2017. According to Golman Sachs, venture capitalists have $23.5 billion globally in Fintech in the past two years, per estimates provided by Santander, Oliver Wyman, and Anthem Group. Furthermore, 27 percent of investments have been in consumer lending, 23 percent in customer payments, and 16 percent in business lending and business services.
Experience & Efficiency
Take a good, hard look at how you currently communicate with your customers. Most businesses today communicate with their customers and their audience through digital forms of communication, such as email, text, landing pages, content, social media, and so on.
While all of these mediums are effective means of communication that are proven to attract new leads and build customer trust, the user experience is also another crucial area. Fintech can fulfill both areas. Financial technology can help businesses in the financial services industry with its two unique selling points: 1) the better use and management of data, and 2) a seamless customer experience.
All in all, by streamlining and automating communication and improving the customer experience with the use of Fintech, businesses in the financial services industry will not only be able to build a solid foundation of customers built on trust, but will also save your teams time and money on closing deals and on lost opportunities.
Fintech allows businesses to provide their customers with custom, personalized experiences that help build your clients and prospective clients trust.
