Client Relationships - Do You Always Deliver?

Do you know the needs of your clients? Yes, I know you know they need PR or marketing, perhaps a website done or help with their teleseminar series, but do you truly know enough about them to make good decisions on what you can do for them? Take a few seconds right now and jot down the names of all your clients. Now, for each one make a list of exactly what you know about them. Dig deep. When things are down in black and white, it is much easier to pinpoint trouble spots and to be able to highlight where you can help the most. Also, it’s a great way to see if perhaps too much focus is spent on some clients and not enough on others. This is a tremendous exercise for reassessing your business and client relationships and for showing you where changes might need to be made. Good client relationships are so important to client success, so always keep them front and center. Additionally, take these steps to improve your client relations: Ask – Check with your clients regularly and find out how things are going. Don’t just assume you know. Many businesses don’t ask their clients for fear of hearing something negative. But in reality, when you take the lead and are pro-active, you can easily turn things around and often even troubleshoot a problem before it exists. And most importantly, your clients will know you care enough to ask. So regularly ask your clients how things are going and what you can do to make it better. You might also want to set up a regular time to check in with them. These check-ins can be beneficial to not only learn how things are going, but they can also be a great way to plan for the future and upcoming tasks. Listen - Listen to your clients and read between the lines. Have you noticed your clients complaining more about the state of their business or complaining more about a certain aspect of their business? This can be a key indication that something is amiss. They might not want to come out directly and tell you something, but instead hope you pick up on it. By listening intently you can pick up on these tones and take the appropriate action to make it right. Also, the problem could have nothing to do with you, but be a real challenge they are facing. By listening, you can go to them and ask if there is anything you can do to help. They might not even know that you offer a service that can help them and, oftentimes, they don’t even know what the solution is. When you come back and say, “Hey I see you’re having some difficulties here. Perhaps I could assist. Did you know we offer …?” Also, know when it’s good to just listen and offer support, or listen and offer your services. On many occasions, the client might simply need someone to talk to, and then is not the time to be pushy with your services. Deliver – You hear over and over again about how you want to give 100% always. Well, we are here to tell you to give 150% always. When your clients know they can count on you and not have to worry about the results, you can bet they will be sending more and more work your way. They don’t even have to think about it before they send it. They just know it will be taken care of. Now that’s the way it should be. Continually think of ways you can improve your work, too. From what you have learned from your clients in the steps above (i.e., asking, listening), see what steps you can do to improve on the work you do for them. Once again it will build that confidence that you have their backs always. See how little things can make big differences? The bottom line though is to ask yourself regularly, “Do you deliver?” Now take the appropriate steps to make sure you always do.