There are many factors that influence the success of a business business. In my opinion, one of the most important is the relationship you have with your clients. You can do everything right, but in the end, your clients are the one who will determine your success. Here are a few tips to help you achieve your relationship goals.
Build a Network
Your network is built of everyone you know. The challenge is to get as many people from your network to become possible clients. To do this you must be proactive. Get in touch and build a relationship with everyone you know. Let them know about the services you offer.
If they're unlikely to become a client, they might just know someone who will.
Stay in touch
So you've met a few people at an event, had a few laughs and even exchanged business cards. Bravo! Now what? A few months from now, most people won't remember you from that even. At this point, one of the biggest mistakes you could do is not to follow up.
Connect as soon as you can. Even if it's just an e-mail letting them know you are happy to have met them. Your contact will be more likely to remember you when they need your services.
Once you've made that initial step to connect, your job is done right? Nope. Now you have to stay in that person's mind. Send them newsletters, promo emails, stay in touch somehow. Just know the difference between informing about your services and spamming the living daylight out of them.
Share Insight
You're an expert in your field, that's why you've decided to build your business around it (I hope). So you must know things others don't. Share tips, tricks, how-to's, news, events to your clients. Your followers will appreciate getting information other than promotional ads and will remember you more.
Divide Your Cients
Your clients are different. Treat them differently.
Haleks is a company who specializes in both web development and graphic design. With that knowledge, I'm sure you can already come to a conclusion that the range of types of clients we have is pretty wide. We have clients with different levels of knowledge in these areas who are interested in different services. So, we separate our mailing list in different categories to satisfy our clients different needs.
I'm sure a professional graphic artist who is only interested in our web development services doesn't want to receive an email with a step by step tutorial for beginners on a software such as Indesign. He'd most likely be interested in a post on "How to improve your SEO" or our latest website promo.
Divide your clients to personalize the information offered to them as best as possible.
Increase Participation
A relationship will fail if only one side is doing all of the talking. Get to know your clients. Ask questions, get them involved.
If you want to really know them, host an event.
Or hold a contest. Give back for what they give you. Remember, your clients are directly related to your success. Don't forget to thank them.