5 Ways to Show Your Clients You Care About More Than Just Their Money
Working with clients is a great way to build long-lasting business relationships, but it’s also more complex than simply working with a multitude of customers where you don’t need to establish that rapport.
With clients, the experience is paramount. Your attentiveness should be a top priority. Your results must surpass your clients’ expectations every time if you want them to work with you in the long-term.
Delivering great results is only the start of a fruitful relationship with your clients. You also need to stand out from other providers by giving them a personalized experience that engenders long-lasting loyalty and continued business.
Here are five simple ways you can show your clients you care about more than just their business. These tips will help you provide a memorable experience that keeps them coming back time and time again:
1. Remember Your Clients’ Names and Preferences
Personalization may sound like a tall order, but it’s actually very simple. If you monitor the correct information, you can easily make your clients feel special by making them feel like they have your undivided attention.
It all starts with their name. When you address them via email or any form of correspondence, always address them by their first name. Beyond this, try to keep a spreadsheet or notes about their preferences.
Here are some preferences to consider jotting down:
● Their last purchase or project you worked with them on
● Their exact specifications or preferred options when working with you
● Their personal story
● Major milestones from your time working together (yearly anniversaries, holidays, etc.)
2. Support Any Businesses They Have
Let’s say your clients are fellow small business owners. You may work together or offer your client advice on running their business. So long as it doesn’t interfere with your own work, why not send some talented people or customers their way?
You don’t want to create competition for yourself, but if you refer talent and customers to your client’s businesses, it shows that you care about more than just your pay check. You want their business to thrive as well.
3. Ask for Their Honest Feedback
It’s always important to keep growing in both your skills and your results. No one is perfect, so ask your clients to provide feedback. For example, every six months you could ask them to take a quick survey and provide feedback on how you can improve your work with them.
You don’t want to overwhelm them with solicitations for feedback, but it doesn’t hurt to check in with them every now and then to see how you’re doing in their eyes, and how you can do better.
4. Stay Positive and Tell Jokes
Professionalism is incredibly important, but if you’re always serious, you may come across as too stoic. Remember, you’re working with people just like yourself. Keep things light, even when deadlines are tight and tensions are high.
Crack a tasteful joke every now and then. Always stay positive in your outlook and in your conversations with them. Bringing down the mood doesn’t really help anyone.
5. Own up to Your Mistakes, Apologize, and Fix Them
This one requires you to swallow your pride, which is difficult for some of us, myself included. When you make a mistake with your clients or you mess something up, it’s incredibly important to own up to it and apologize.
If you can’t acknowledge your mistakes, than you can’t improve. It also shows humility, which is something many professionals lack.
Final Thoughts
Clients are concentrated customers that are crucial to your business. You need to go the extra mile to show them you care about them. These tips are easy to implement into your practices, and will go a long way towards making you stand out in their eyes.
How do you show your clients you care about them? Let us know in the comments below!
