Keeping Client Relationships on Top

Business Relationship Management
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

As you are working on your online social media/Email strategy, the next step will be to look at the relationships that you have developed and cultivate them to the next level. As you are paying close attention to your client relationships, your Email strategy becomes more and more important.

Highlighting every stage of your plan with a specific strategy

It is critical to your business’s success that you work every stage of the strategy’s process in an effort to retain and maintain your clients and to cultivate new clients. It is very important to be able to identify the different lifecycle stages so that you can work them most effectively for your business. They are:

  • The prospect stage: Your prospective clients are clients in the stage before they have actually hired you. That means that they are in a position to learn everything that they possibly can about your brand and your offerings. Getting them to go from prospective clients to actual clients may not be easy but it is far from impossible.

  • An actual client: After a prospective client becomes an actual client, you need to work on building a long-term, enduring relationship. It is essential that you communicate to your clients how important they are to you and your business and  how much you value the relationship that you share with them.

  • Customers who are heavily involved with your business: It is very important to make sure that your clients understand their value to your organization.  Additionally, you must find a way to highlight your company in a the best possible manner.

  • Returning clients: With your clients who have already been established as loyal and who will do whatever is necessary to contribute to your professional success, you must make sure to continually convey to them how important they are to you. Your communication should be as open as possible and putting the time and effort into those relationships will be well worth it.

  • Clients who have fallen by the wayside: If you have clients who have been inactive for a long time, it is a good idea to categorize them in a way that does not put a strain on the rest of your client load. You should definitely keep them on your radar but you may wish to reconsider how much time and energy you put into those particular relationships.

  • Clients who really no longer exist for you: If you have clients who have not actually expressed the idea that they no longer wish to deal with you but, at the same time, they are not really interacting with you in any way, it may be a good idea to cut your losses and abandon the relationships with those people.

All of the categories that were discussed above are very important but each category can be an entire article all on its own. There will be subsequent blogs that discuss the other categories of client relationships. In this blog, let’s look at turning prospective clients into actual clients.

Going from potential to actual

There are plenty of prospective clients who will never, ever turn into actual paying clients. However, there are also many prospective clients who will turn into actual clients. There are several potential approaches that you can take to make this happen.

  • Provide valuable information: The purpose of a blog (and the rest of your content) is to educate your target audience. You don’t actively ask for anything in return in that situation. Your goal is to communicate to the other person how capable you are of solving the other person’s problems. In order to do that successfully, you must be able to empathize with the other person. If you are able to accomplish that, you will be halfway there.

  • Provide a newsletter to your target audience: A newsletter is very valuable because it gives your target audience valuable, educational information, and, at the same time, it allows you to promote your business in an ethical manner.

  • Don’t slam your prospective clients with TMI: Nobody wants to be inundated with too much online information. There are people who actually dedicate their work to stopping spam from reaching other people. You should not make yourself one of the people whom they are trying to stop.

  • Add value: It is critical to focus your prospective client list appropriately and effectively. It is essential that you send them the most relevant information and that you connect with them on an emotional level.

Conclusion

It is very important that you keep your prospective clients and existing clients at the top of your priority list. It is also important to remember that without your clients, you will not have any business and you will not have any chance at all of success. If you want to achieve greater and greater success, you won’t be able to do it without your clients and without human relationships. Chemistry between your company and your clients must be strong and lasting.

[signoff][/signoff]

Author

  • Michael Cohn

    Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has decades of experience in IT and web technologies. Michael founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility and reputation. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility. Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.

5 Responses

  1. Danielle Fetherson says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: The Content Wrangler Community
    Discussion: How Do You Maintain Solid Client Relationships?

    Thank you for taking the time to remind me about the significance of the customer service experience. My favorite buying experiences are when others take the time to educate me and treat me like a person and not a statistic. I want my authors to feel the same way about working with me.
    By Danielle Fetherson

  2. Mindy Lepp says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Network – #1 Group for CMOs
    Discussion: How Do You Maintain Solid Client Relationships?

    I just read the intro to this article and it is perfect timing because I am in the midst of creating a plan for keeping in touch with current clients.
    By Mindy Lepp

  3. Brodie Leap says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Network – #1 Group for CMOs
    Discussion: How Do You Maintain Solid Client Relationships?

    I think we do a pretty good job of keeping in touch with our current clients. We work primarily with veterinarians, physicians, and dentists and we find that like minded people love spending time with one another. We also make sure to reach out multiple times throughout the year to make sure we’re keeping up with our clients needs and ever changing lives. Lastly, we utilize a monthly newsletter. However, we are always looking to learn and adapt! Great article!
    By Brodie Leap

  4. K.S. Susindar says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Network – #1 Group for CMOs
    Discussion: How Do You Maintain Solid Client Relationships?

    This is an important aspect of marketing particularly in the services industry. Relationships are built on trust. But trust alone may not be adequate. There are many books which recommend ‘know your customer’ – particularly in in B2B. There are some depths to which one needs to travel in a relationship to keep it solid. Understanding the goals of the individual and the organization, his personal predilections for some finer aspects of like – starting with a wine or a restaurant of his choice up to keeping him informed about your holiday plans. Because, clients don’t like to be surprised when they call you for closing an urgent commitment. If one practices it well, clients should extend their trust canvas in you with not only the services offered by your company but the individual preferences. But then one needs to know where to draw a line.
    By K.S. Susindar

  5. ELAINE BISHOP says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Consulting Success
    Discussion: How Do You Maintain Solid Client Relationships?

    When my clients say “jump”, I ask “how high” and “where”. There is no question. I provide the perks to ensure I get the “lifetime purchases”.
    By ELAINE BISHOP