Forging Stronger Client Relationships

Meaningful relationships lead to meaningful business.

“It’s key to understand who you’re impacting when you try to deliver a solution.” - Stewart Bird

That’s true! When you know who you’re impacting, you can deliver a better, personalized solution.

Clients are unquestionably one of the most crucial aspects of beginning and running a successful business.

Your business would not exist without clients, especially those that hire you again and again or purchase from you and become loyal customers. This is why the better you are at understanding and building relationships with your customers, the more successful your business will be.

An article by McKinsey & Company mentioned that 70% of customers’ buying decisions are based on how the client feels the company is treating them, which is a key factor in client relationships.

While a study by Salesforce shows that 72% of customers will tell others about their positive experiences with your company.

This simply means, that forging good client relationships go beyond simply delivering what your clients need from your company.

Making your clients feel that your firm is a partner devoted to their success rather than just a service provider is the key to building good client relationships.

Here are tips for strengthening your customer-focused approach.

1. Establish a customer-centric culture

Building a customer culture is a concerted effort that begins at the top of the firm, with management in particular. Everyone on the team has to know how their roles affect the customer experience and how their actions encourage customer loyalty and engagement.

Define processes or frequent touchpoints in order for staff to develop relationships with customers. This will contribute to a strong customer focus, so invest and take time to develop that.

Invest in Technology

Technology is fueling rising customer expectations.

Mobile is ingrained in our culture, data-driven decision-making is commonplace, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a very large and broad spectrum of technologies which most people would be familiar with through… promises to relieve marketers, sales reps, and supply chain workers of their responsibilities.

Remote work, self-scheduling technology, and the willingness to give employees more autonomy can help meet client expectations and provide compassionate, proactive service.

Break down silos

You may better position yourself to deliver value by understanding your marketing strategy, sales trajectory, and what your customers desire.

You’ll have the most visibility into operations by sharing data with eCommerce, CRM stands for Client Relationship Management. A CRM system is a digitised process of keeping your customer interactions and details… , ERP, WHM, procurement, accounting, and other systems.

Being unaware of these critical procedures, on the other hand, would only hinder your capacity to promote customer-centricity inside your organization.

Allow creativity

Listening to consumer issues and gathering feedback isn’t enough.

Teach your employees to be proactive in identifying what your consumers value, appreciate, and respond positively to.

Organize brainstorming gatherings to share ideas too!

2. Be an excellent listener and advisor

Brands and customers want a strategic partner who knows when to speak up or suggest an alternative option, even if it means stepping outside their comfort zone.

They need people with experience beyond their own, who can lead them to the optimum approach for their goals and budget.

Be an excellent listener and advisor. Listen to your clients then give them your best advice on how to achieve their goals.

While not always the most direct path, we are certain that this strategy will pay off in the long run.

3. Ask for feedback

Most businesses only ask clients for reviews and feedback after they have completed their assignment or after a client purchases their products.

If you want to build good relationships with your clients, you should ask for input frequently during the project, whether it’s a service or a product, ask them how you can improve, what needs to be added, what’s missing, and so on.

You are subtly letting the client know that you care about their opinion and the success of their project by asking for input on a regular basis.

Any client comments and feedback should be taken into account. If you believe the client’s proposals are unrealistic or illogical, don’t dismiss the client’s criticism. Instead, engage in a professional discussion with them and explain why their solutions may not be viable.

Let’s imagine you’re building a website for a customer and you’ve already determined the client’s objectives and set the project’s scope. Instead of waiting until the end of the project to ask for input from the client, you may do it after each milestone.

This gives the client the impression that their viewpoint is valued, which is crucial in building a good relationship with them.

4. Develop a growth mindset

Businesses that adopt a growth mindset will maximize their team’s potential and foster a positive accountability culture that will propel their company forward.

When you intentionally adopt the behaviors and ideas of a growth mindset, you will be able to explore new avenues without being limited by your fear of failure.

“Only those who are willing to risk going too far can possibly discover how far one can go.” — T.S. Eliot

Here are some best practices to help you and your team develop a growth mindset.

Our world is dynamic, it’s constantly changing. The most successful businesses and modern leaders recognize that we live in a digital environment that is continuously evolving.

These businesses and leaders prepare themselves to drive significant change by embracing change rather than fearing or opposing it, whether it’s transforming themselves, their team, their organization’s procedures, and structures, or even turning their business direction and vision.

Growth takes time to bear fruit, therefore patience is essential. You’ll be able to lead a team to more significant goals if you learn to push through failure, treat hurdles as challenges, and persevere in the face of adversity.

When it comes to owning a business, failure is inevitable. Leaders who learn from their failures and incorporate these lessons into their business and processes will continue to prosper and grow long term.

It’s also critical to establish a company culture in which failure is viewed as a teaching tool. Failure will serve as your guide, and your team will be encouraged to grow and take innovative risks.

Final thoughts…

It is critical to focus on developing great client relationships if you want to build a profitable firm. Strong customer relationships result in advantages such as bigger and better projects, more business, more connections, and great word-of-mouth advertising.

While it takes a lot of effort, time, commitment, and tact to create solid client relationships, the recommendations in this article will get you started and ensure that your clients stick around for the long haul.

Listen to DevReady episode 25 , with Stewart Bird, Aurecon’s Digital Futures Leader, and learn more about forging client-focused initiatives, growth mindset, and more.

Originally published at https://aerion.com.au on July 25, 2022.