Insights into Customer Relationship Strategy for AI and Data Analytics SMEs

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1.0 Introduction

Building an AI and data analytics product or service is a formidable task, but the real challenge lies in creating a customer relationship strategy that is repeatable, scalable, and cost-effective for acquiring, retaining, and growing the customer base. If you’re a founder & or CEO, director or manager of a small and medium size AI and data analytics enterprise, this challenge might resonate with your experiences.

The year 2021 marked a significant milestone for Artificial Intelligence with the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, ushering in remarkable advancements in AI and data analytics technology. The subsequent proliferation of AI products and services, coupled with the democratization of AI technology, has opened access to vast resources, enabling faster development and deployment of AI product and services. However, the true explosion of AI products and services successfully reaching consumers globally is yet to be seen. Companies that will succeed to penetrate the market and create an impact will rely on an effective customer relationship strategy, the focus of this write up .

1.1 Who am I

Before delving into the intricacies of customer relationship strategy for AI products and services, let me introduce myself. I am Ivo Kubam, an experienced AI and data analytics professional, and the founder of Graffiland.

With a background in Biochemistry, my journey in AI and data analytics began with addressing the challenge of poor data management in hospitals in Bamenda, Cameroon. This led to the founding of my first company, SEED Enterprises, in 2016. Despite its collapse in 2018, the experience fueled my motivation to study data science abroad. Two years as an AI and data analytics consultant, I recently initiated Graffiland in 2023.

Graffiland started as an initiative to solve the problem of unemployment amongst youths by equipping them with AI and data analytics skills to gain meaningful job opportunities. After facing  challenges to define a good strategy on how to get, keep and grow the customer base, I decided to seek help from literature and professionals in the field of marketing and sales. From the knowledge gained, I redefine the mission for the company to leverage the expertise of seasoned African industry professionals worldwide to assist SME to streamline their talent acquisition processes.

1.2 Why talk about customer relationships strategy?

While an employee at EdenceHealth, I noticed a recurring challenge in my department of AI and data analytics – while the team possessed the technical expertise, securing a consistent flow of lucrative opportunities remained elusive. This downtime of the team translated to significant costs for the company. More so, not ideal for the team in terms of their professional growth.

Exploring further, I discovered this challenge was not unique to my team. Other SMEs in the AI and data analytics space faced stiff competition, with opportunities limited as a result in a growing number of companies offering AI and data analytics products and services. Conventionally, you might be tempted to attribute this lack of opportunities solely to the marketing and sales department. But in reality, no such full flesh dedicated team exist as the marketing and sales department in most SMEs. It is partly or even the full responsibility of the founder & or CEO, business director or manager to guarantee a constant flow of lucrative opportunities.

Starting Graffiland brought me face-to-face with a familiar pattern. Building my first AI career coaching product posed less of a significant challenge. But acquiring, retaining, and growing the customers base became a primary obstacle. I started off attracting early adopters. These were people who personally knew me or who were referred to me by friends. But after a while, my list was exhausted. I knew if I’m to scale with this business, I need to attract, get, keep and grow the early and late majority customers as explained in the innovation curve. Reflecting on my experience and that of many SME founders, CEOs, directors, and managers, a common struggle emerged—developing an effective and scalable customer relationship strategy for our AI and data analytics products and services.

But why is Graffiland and other SMEs in the AI and data analytics space suffer from this problem? When I further analyse the situation, I realise my profile is in sync with that of most founder, CEO, directors and managers in the field of AI and data analytics. The technical know how is top notch but soft skills to build a reliable customer relationship strategy is absent. We have all been in the technical realm and was good at how to execute projects brought to us. But managing a company or a department demands much more. We have to put a winning strategy to get, keep and grow our customer base.

1.3 The Gab

The overarching challenge is clear – bridging the gap between technical excellence and sustained business growth. Founders & or  CEOs, directors or managers of  small and medium size AI and data analytics enterprises grapple with navigating a competitive landscape, where the intricacies of customer engagement become pivotal. Recognising the universality of this struggle, Graffiland’s experience highlights the pressing need for a refined customer relationship strategy and tactics for SMEs.

2.0 About Customer Relationship Strategy (CRS)

Before I explain how I’m tackling the above mention challenge at the level of Graffiland, I would provide some background knowledge of this topic of customer relationship.  

Customer Relationship (CR) is the set of strategies and tactics meticulously devised to accomplish three crucial objectives: acquiring, retaining, and growing the customer base. These strategies and tactics must embody traits of repeatability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. Implementing a robust CR stands as a paramount task for founders & or CEOs, directors or managers of a small and medium size AI and data analytics enterprise.

1.1 Breaking down Customer relationship reveals three fundamental components
  1. Getting Customers (Demand Creation): This involves the adeptness to channel prospective customers into your sales funnels, a critical phase in the customer relationship journey.
  2. Keeping Customers (Retention): Retention strategies are designed to provide customers with compelling reasons to continuously engage with and consume your company’s products and services.
  3. Growing Customers: This entails stimulating existing clients to not only increase their consumption but also express demand for new products and services. Encouraging them to refer new customers further contributing to growth.

These three core components are succinctly illustrated in the figure below.

2.2 Getting Customers

Ushering customers to discover your products and services poses an enduring and formidable challenge. This phase comprises two critical subsections: customer acquisition and activation.

2.2.1 Customer Acquisition

In this phase, the primary focus is on ushering as many customers as possible to your products and services’ online front door. Tactics such as blogs, free trials, emails, and more are deployed to entice customers to visit and explore your AI data analytic product or service.

2.2.2 Customer Activation

Following the visit to the product or service’s front door, customer activation becomes pivotal. The customer showcases interest by requesting a free download, trial, demo version, or making a purchase. Even if a customer doesn’t make a purchase, obtaining their contact information qualifies as activation.

Navigating the realms of customer acquisition, activation, and the overall CRS landscape demands a strategic blend of creativity, precision, and adaptability.

2.3 Keep Customers

Also called customer retention. The goal is to minimize customer churn/attrition by serving your customers with great AI and data analytics products and services. It is very important at this stage, to track the behavior of each customer. Using the insights from the data to create a personal one-to-one relationship that guides the customer to the next level of value ladder. Some retention efforts could include, Newsletters, how-to-guides, loyalty programs, live phone calls, events, personalized customer service and support etc.
Getting new customers is painful and costly, so keeping those already on the roster is easier and more cost-effective.

2.4 Grow Customers

Essentially, there are two primary methods for growing existing customers: encouraging current customers to spend more or motivating them to refer more customers to consume the AI and data analytics products and services. Tactics for increasing spending include cross-sell programs, up-selling programs, next-selling programs, etc. Leveraging these techniques can encourage customers referrals, prompt customers to follow and interact on your social media accounts, share your products and services with friends, and urging bloggers to write about your offerings.

3.0 The Essential Questions for an Effective Customer Relationship Strategy

In my journey to address Graffiland pressing issue of a definitive customer relationship strategy, I found myself grappling with an elusive challenge despite deploying various strategies. After an in-depth exploration of marketing and sales literature, a revelation struck me—the core issue lay in inadequately answering four fundamental questions about my customers. I had been so engrossed in refining my customer relationship strategy and fine-tuning my AI career coaching product and services that I overlooked these pivotal questions.

Before embarking on defining your customer relationship strategy, it’s imperative to accurately answer these four questions:

3.1 Who is your dream customer?

These are individuals or companies for whom your AI and data analytics product or service addresses a mission-critical problem or fulfills a must-have need. Understanding your dream customer involves delving into key sample questions:

  1. What does my dream customer look like?
  2. What are their passions?
  3. What are their goals, dreams, and desires?
  4. What offers can I create to attract them while repelling everyone else?

In Graffiland’s case, instead of targeting every youth as before, I redefine Graffiland’s dream customers as non-tech university degree holders between the ages of 24 and 35. They show interest in landing a job in the field of AI and data analytics. Their dream is to secure a white-collar job in the field as soon as possible.

 

3.2 Where do your customers aggregate?

Once you’ve precisely defined your dream customers, the next step is locating where they congregate. This information is crucial for devising a strategy to connect with them. Ask yourself:

  • What are the top websites frequented by my dream customers?
  • Which forums or message boards do they engage in?
  • In which LinkedIn groups do they participate?
  • What podcasts do they listen to?
  • What blogs do they read?
  • What keywords do they search for on Google to find information?

With my case in Graffiland, I started off my customer relationship strategy trying to post contents on all possible social media content I could. In as much as most youths spend their time on these platforms, I realized I had my best results on LinkedIn. The reason was that those dream customers who spend their time on LinkedIn are in dyer need of a solution to their problem asap.

3.3 What is the bait (hook, story, and offer) you'll use to attract your dream customers?

Hooks represent the ads, content, or resources designed to capture the attention of your dream customers briefly, allowing you to narrate a compelling story. The objective of the story is to establish rapport and dispel false beliefs hindering them from accepting your offer. The offer is the solution crafted specifically for your dream customer to provide the desired results.

I have tried several things along the way, but what has worked for me so far has been creating valuable content on LinkedIn, building an email list, creating a WhatsApp community with the goal of first offering FREE valuable help to my dream customers. After I have hooked them with my content, it is easy for me to place an offer for them to buy.

3.4 What is the unique result or value that you can create for your dream customers?

A business transcends your AI and data analytics products or services; it revolves around the results you can deliver to your dream customers. In essence, comprehend what your customers want and why they are motivated to make a purchase.
Before, I thought what my dream customers want is to badly learn Python programming, SQL, or Power BI, etc. But I realized what they truly wanted is a job. They need help landing a job. As a result I created a framework to guide them land a job, which is unlike other competitors who are pouring out training courses as their primary value proposition.

Hence Answering these 4 essential questions is key in building successful customer relationship strategy.

 

4.0 How to build a successful customer Relationship Strategy

Creating a successful customer relationship strategy requires a tailored approach that acknowledges the unique needs of each SME in the AI and data analytics field. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, numerous tactics found in literature can be explored, experimented with, and customized for specific business needs.

The key lies in the commitment of delving deep into literature, learning directly from industry professionals, experimenting with different approaches, and most importantly, finding what works best for Graffiland based on the services provided to our target niche.

Let’s delve into the main components of the techniques used to build this successful customer relationship strategy:

4.1 Get Customers (Acquisition & Activation)

Traditionally, startups often rely on word-of-mouth strategies to attract early adopters. While effective, it’s not scalable. To attract the majority, innovative tactics are necessary. In Graffiland’s case, I positioned myself as an expert in the field through valuable, helpful content on LinkedIn. Slow at the start, it now has an exponential effect. Hosting free/paid events, sometimes featuring guest speakers, further boosted my LinkedIn followers and email list. This demonstrated to potential clients that I could guide them to achieve their desired results.

4.2 Keep Customers

Acquiring new customers is time-consuming and expensive, so retaining them is crucial. Staying in constant touch with customers is key. Encouraging them to follow me on LinkedIn, consume free content, receive valuable emails, join events, and participate in a WhatsApp community has helped keep the relationship strong. These techniques enable continuous listening to their pain points, leading to the experimentation of new strategies to keep them close.

4.3 Grow Customers

Customers always have evolving needs. By carefully listening, I attracted clients interested in technical training. Recognizing their subsequent need for practical application, I introduced services like work-integrated learning. Expanding the service offerings to include professional branding, job placement support, and community support created a value ladder, attracting a diverse clientele.

5.0 Conclusion

After delving into much literature, books, learning from industry professionals, and experimenting with many different approaches and strategies for a good customer relationship strategy that is repeatable, scalable, and cost-effective for AI and data analytics SMEs, it’s clear that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The whole process requires a dynamic, adaptive, and personalized approach. Customer preferences change, and as such, there is a need for innovative ways to better serve customers. Essentially, for AI and data SMEs, I recommend a more robust and quick-to-experiment approach, adapting as change requires.

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6.0 References

Here are some of the literature, books and authors who are shaping my knowledge of customer relationship

  • The startup owner’s manual by Steve Blank
  • Dotcom secret by Russel Brunson
  • Expert Secrets by Russel Brunson
  • This is marketing. You can’t be seen until you learn to see by Seth Godin