Are you looking to improve your client relationships, but aren’t quite sure how to do so?
Improving your client relationships means improving your business and your bottom line. And, the great thing is, you don’t necessarily need to put in face-to-face time to improve your client relationships.
So, what do you need to do?
Check out this guide to learn everything you need to know about improving your client relationships.
1. Keep the Lines of Communication Open
Keeping the lines of communication is one of the best ways to improve your client relationships. One of the biggest pain points that clients experience is not being able to get ahold of businesses when they need to.
Your clients should be easily able to reach you by email, call, text, or virtual chat whenever they need to. In addition to being readily available, you also want to make sure your clients are comfortable approaching you with questions.
Keep your clients in the loop about what you’re working on, and make sure they understand the basic aspects of your project. They shouldn’t feel stupid asking questions like, “What is a CRM?”, or, “How does this application work?”
2. Stay Positive
Keeping a positive attitude is one of the most tried and true ways to improve your client relationships.
Even if you’re feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, it’s important that you don’t let this show when you’re interacting with your clients. Additionally, while it’s fine to point out why your company beats out the competition, you should avoid unnecessary negative talk about your competition and about other clients.
3. Acknowledge Your Client’s Individual Needs
You don’t want your clients to feel like just another number or like they’re just a paycheck to you. While it’s important to keep the relationship professional, acknowledging that your client is a person can go a long way.
The extent to which you develop a personal connection will depend on the industry you work in, the type of client you’re working with, and the personality of the client. For example, if your client is a parent and they bring up their family a lot, it may be appropriate to ask them how their kids are doing.
4. Go Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Going above and beyond the call of duty is one of the best ways to improve client relationships.
Anyone can provide their clients with good work. To keep your clients coming back, you need to be constantly looking for ways to “wow” them. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to be offering up goods or services for free.
One of the best ways to “wow” your clients is to offer them suggestions on how to improve their business. Take a look at the services you offer, and gather some information on how your services can help improve specific aspects of your client’s business.
For example, let’s say you do an analysis of the competition and you find out that the client’s competitors are all offering in-store events. If your client is only hosting virtual events, you can suggest that they offer in-store events as well.
5. Ask for Feedback
Asking for feedback is another great way to improve your relationships with your clients. Chances are, your clients have some pain points with your services that you don’t even know about.
Oftentimes, these pain points are very easy to fix. All you have to do is ask about them.
However, you need to be careful about when and how you ask for client feedback. When giving feedback, most people like to stay anonymous, so make sure you’re giving your clients the opportunity to do so.
One of the best ways to ask for feedback in an anonymous manner is with a client satisfaction survey. Depending on your relationship with the client, you can also ask for their opinions in a casual manner via phone or email.
You should also encourage your clients to leave their positive feedback on your Google My Business Page, as this will allow other potential clients to see your work so your business can grow.
6. Be Timely
Resolving issues and responding in a timely manner can really help you go a long way with your clients.
Even if your response just involves you letting your clients know that you’re working to resolve the issue, they’ll appreciate that you’re keeping them in the loop.
Remember, you don’t always need to have a perfect answer right away. Your clients really just want to know that you’re working on resolving their project or problem. Rather than focusing on getting the right answer as quickly as possible, focus on keeping your clients informed in regards to the progress of their project.
7. Show Your Appreciation
Last but not least, make sure you show your clients your appreciation for their business. As we mentioned earlier, clients often feel like they’re just a number in a sea of other clients.
Showing appreciation really helps demonstrate to clients that you see them as a person and you value their business. There are a number of ways you can show your appreciation, including:
- Saying “thank you” on the bottom of your invoices
- Send out holiday baskets or anniversary baskets
- Offer price discounts and complimentary services to loyal clients
- Do social media shoutouts
- Send a “thank you for signing” basket
- Host an event for your client
- Offer exclusive access deals or loyalty schemes
As you can see, there’s a lot that you can do to show your appreciation.
Improving Your Client Relationships: Are You Ready?
Now that you have these tips for improving your client relationships, it’s time to put them into action. Before you know it, your client relationships will be better than ever.
Be sure to check back in with our blog for more tips and tricks on improving your business.
