On a radiant and bright Sunday morning, you decide to take a walk to your favorite café for breakfast and coffee. Assorted pancakes with maple syrup on them and espresso shot are being served. Within minutes, you spot your good friend strolling in. You’re exhilarated to see her. The jovial, chirpy, straightforward, loving and expressive inner you becomes active and there’s a spark in your eyes. You don't appear to keep yourself down. Connecting with her appears to be a cakewalk for you.

In less than five minutes, your good friend’s friend comes in. You’ve already met him a couple of times. Now, there is altering in your behavior. This propensity time you’ve become a little more alert and you’re conscious of what you say. You try to completely take in that person’s behavior and make a riposte accordingly. Your to please him is quite visible by now.  

Later, that friend’s friend walks in. You, unacquainted with that new entry, are a little awkward. There begins the actual game. Would you rub shoulders with this person the same way? Can you think of how you would automatically amend your behavior to suit the new person?

Now visualize this drill. The last friend’s friend enters with a gang of people. A group with varied liking and disliking. How would you tackle all these people? Human nature has always wanted to please every single person they meet. You see, how our ways of engagement change according to our target audience.

Customer engagement is just a broader picture of such homogenous scenarios. For any brand, the most essential step in accomplishing human-centric associations or rather driving client commitment viably is to get an audience and formulate their engagement strategy as it needs to be. We concur it's anything but a drop in the bucket to manage everybody in a different way, Here are some examples for a better insight.

CHAOTIC CHANDA: THE DOUBTFUL ONES

Chanda loves what you’ve got in your stock, but she is always confused. She’s a Shopaholic but something holds her back most of the time. What could it be?? It’s her eccentric nature. She knows you’ve got astounding offers but is having a hard time in making a purchase decision. She is keen to know if you can provide value for the money that she is about to shell out.

Such customers have got genuine trust issues. It is sad how they won’t trust the brand’s exchange/refund policies as well. Once their heavy parcel has arrived at their doorstep instead of making the required payment and letting the delivery guy go they’ll make him wait and examine the whole parcel. I mean,

 how can you not believe in a brand who has given you their official statement. *FACEPALM*

TONGUE-TIED TAHIRA: THE QUIET ONES

You might not sound as sweet as Taylor Swift but YOU’VE TO SPEAK UP TAHIRA!!!!!! Customers like Tahira are the most difficult ones to deal with. She would be an extant client who doesn’t respond to updates or a potential customer who doesn’t converse or pay heed. She would be opening our emails, following our social media posts, reading our blogs; but she won’t respond. ANNOYING, right? Their silence makes it difficult for us to judge if they are contented with our services or no, are we good enough, what are the areas for improvement, etc.

RESPONSIVE RABIA: THE FORTHCOMING ONES

Unlike Ron Weasley, you’re a responsible client who knows the colossal worth of feedback and cheerleading. You need to be appreciated. Responsive customers are your potential brand ambassadors when handled right. People like Rabia are those who are willing to interact with you. They are vocal. They are present on every other channel that you are on. The only downside being, these are the customers who will be the initial ones to announce when they are unhappy with your brand. So consider responsive Rabia to be your high maintenance friend. You must be extremely cautious while managing these folks.

NUISANCE NADIA: THE INCONSIDERATE ONES

Is Nadia actually that busy or does she pretend? It’s strenuous to guess. Despite getting a fixed delivery date she would ask you a thousand times about her order. And guess what? Just when you call her to check her availability, Nadia tells you to come some other day because she is not around. Poor delivery guy! How many rounds will he have to take to hand over this specific order? This type of customer will act insensitive and make the staff wait for very long.

Remember, EMPATHY IS THE BACKBONE FOR ANY OF YOUR DEALINGS AND IT CAN DO WONDERS. Whether its Chaotic Chanda or Tongue-tied Tahira, you need to understand your customer’s pain points and value each one of them. After all, they are the ones who’ll help you flourish your business so they deserve to be heard and treated with due respect.

I hope great words by Katherine Barchetti,“Make a customer, not a sale” echoes in ears of every person ever involved in any kind of business.