Too many times in the past you might have found that you obtained the ideal client; they shared the same values as you, you got along very well, there were never any major issues, and basically it was a business love in that did you both a big service. What happened then? It all went wrong and before you know it, you lost said client and you had a gap in your roster.
Does this sound like something that has happened to your business in the past?
Most business have experienced this issue, and it’s often down to not monitoring the happiness of the client, or allowing a small issue to suddenly snowball into something much bigger and irreparable. Communication is vital if you want to hold onto those quality clients, the one who you work extremely well with, without any big problems.
It is a big responsibility, but making sure your clients are happy, and solving any issues if and when they arise, is a major must do. If you lose a client, the chances are that they are going to go with a competitor, and that is a major loss for you. The old adage of always providing fantastic customer service, value, delivering on time, and basically going over and above what is expected is all very well and good, but they still may go in the end, so how can you stop this from happening, or at least reduce the chances?
Set up a screening process for your clients from the get go
You don’t need to be working with clients who you are not compatible with. Think of this like a romantic relationship – you wouldn’t embark on this with someone who didn’t share your common goals in life, so why would you attempt this with a client, when big money was on the line? You wouldn’t!
A screening process is a good way to pick out the client who are going to fit into your company views and ethos, and a PR agency can help you with this if you don’t want to embark on it yourself. Putting this into place will eliminate any issues in the future, or at least reduce the chances drastically.
Develop an onboarding process
If you are serious about identifying and working with clients you’re going to keep, an onboarding process is ideal. This means that clients are clear about your objectives and mission from the start, and it can help cut down on any misunderstandings about expectations and working methods from the start. Onboarding processes have been greatly received in the past and have been shown to reduce the overturn of clients in many different business settings.
Check in with your clients regularly
Checking how happy your clients are is a major asset in keeping them on your books and not someone else’s. Ask for feedback regularly, make sure they know to contact you if the slightest issue occurs, and always have a regular chat over the telephone to see how things are going. This way, if any problems are brewing, you can get rid of them before they come to the fore, or before they become noticeable in a bigger way.
Another tool you can use is a net promoter score, as this means you can again identify problems before they happen. Asking for testimonials to place on your website is a double header too, because you can keep a track on client happiness, whilst also having extra positivity on your website, attractive even more custom your way.
It really all comes down to keeping your clients happy, and making sure that you only work with the right kind of clients for your business from the start. It’s all too tempting to simply grab clients with both hands at the start, because any business is helpful, but if you choose the wrong type of client, it could be equally as disastrous.
