Building Client Relationships
Building strong client relationships with your customers is key to any business’s success. I have been fortunate over the years to work with many company business leaders, teams, and suppliers during my career, helping shape managed payroll and tech solutions for clients.
Consistently delivering exceptional service is something I have always strived for, and I expect the same from my teams. All too often, the actual customer experience gets lost as businesses strive for streamlining and bottom-line profits.
And, as businesses grow, what worked with a small team can become diluted as the teams become larger and less connected.
So here are some of my personal tips for delivering a consistent, excellent service.
1. Be on the ball
Providing prompt, friendly, and helpful customer service can go a long way in building strong relationships with your customers. It may sound easy, but being proactive and sharing information with your clients will help them feel loved. Always try to see things from the client’s perspective and be proactive.
I have found that even if there are problems, if clients feel confident that you are ‘all over it’, the trust isn’t eroded.
2. Personalisation
Tailoring your interactions and offerings to meet the specific needs and preferences of your customers can make them feel valued and appreciated. No one wants to feel like they are just ‘one of many’, so creating a bespoke solution for a client can give you the edge.
Even if there is little flexibility in your systems or processes, you can always listen and acknowledge their needs and make some recommendations and advice. This all helps the client feel like they are being treated as an individual, which can go a long way to make you stand out in the crowd from your competitors.
3. Communication
Keeping open lines of communication with your customers through various channels such as email, social media, and phone can help address any concerns or feedback they may have.
My personal favourite here is speaking with clients directly on the phone or face-to-face. This is especially the case if the conversation needs to discuss something complex or contentious. It is too easy to hide behind email, but you are doing yourself a disservice, as one of the most powerful relationship-building things you can do is to have a conversation. To listen to their tone of voice and body language and respond with empathy. Email just doesn’t give you this scope.
Although it isn’t always feasible, it is good to factor in some face-to-face meetings. Video calls are fantastic, and certainly can be more time-efficient, but sometimes going to a client’s premises is gold. Getting to talk to different people within the business, be available for wider conversations and to get a real ‘feel’ for their business is invaluable. Plus, most clients appreciate the effort you have made.
There are times, however, when using digital systems is better. Ticketing systems have their place and are preferable to lengthy emails, especially when the content is project-specific and needs to be viewed by team members. Remember, email is a silo, so if the information needs to be seen by others, then email isn’t the best channel.
4. Reward Loyalty
Implementing a loyalty program or offering special discounts and rewards to repeat customers can incentivise them to continue doing business with you.
BE careful about offering deals or incentives to new business, without similar rewards to your loyal customers. Nothing cheeses people off more than it looking like you only value new business and don’t reward their loyalty.
5. Feedback and Improvement
Actively seeking feedback from your customers and using it to improve your products or services demonstrates that you value their opinions and are committed to providing the best possible experience.
This needs to go beyond paying lip service with surveys and NPS scores that are just being used as a marketing tool. At Ascend, we add in stages for feedback on the process, where we can have a frank two-way conversation about any improvements on both sides.
6. Consistent Quality
Ensuring that your products or services consistently meet or exceed customer expectations can help build trust and loyalty. Consider delivering your service levels to ISO standards, such as ISO 9001 and ISO 27001.
7. Transparency
Being transparent about your business practices, pricing, and policies can help build trust with your customers and will foster long-term relationships. My goal when building relationships is to keep the client for a minimum of 10 years, get the process right from the get-go go and customers will respect you and refer you more business.
8. Empathy
Not every customer is the same, so why don’t we treat them that way? Showing empathy and understanding towards your customers’ needs and concerns can help create a positive and supportive customer relationship and experience.
9. Always Follow-up
Pick up the phone and follow up with customers after a purchase, interaction or a problem to ensure their satisfaction and address any issues. This demonstrates your commitment and that you care about your client while delivering a high level of service. Things do go wrong, but how you manage issues to put things right is critical.
10. Continuous Learning
Staying informed about industry trends, customer preferences, and new technologies can help you adapt and evolve to better serve your customers’ needs in the long term.
Customers will appreciate you being proactive and making recommendations to them that could improve their service, product choice or efficiency.
Whatever your sector, I believe these tips will help you improve your relationship building with clients and contacts. I am horrified by the practice I have observed in some businesses, which seem to think that a ‘hostage-style’ approach is acceptable. Whether that is locking clients into onerous contracts, making unreasonable price hikes, or doing little to address poor service because you know customers have few options.
It’s all about delivering a positive customer experience. In the long run, these customers will likely leave as soon as possible and probably share their negative experience with anyone who will listen.
