In today's blog post, I’m going to share with you my 3 very effective “secrets” that I use to build up loyalty in my Clients.
(Watch out for #3, it really easy to mess up)…
When you are a self-employed freelancer or a seasoned entrepreneur your most important assets are your Clients. And when you already got them, you really don't want them to go away from you.
If you think that the quality of your service alone is enough to keep your Clients around and buying from you again and again (a common misconception, unfortunately), then you are dead wrong. There are lots of opportunities and specialists out there, why would your Clients be loyal to you, in particular?
Maybe just maybe they will remember you for a couple projects. Then someone who knows a little secret of client loyalty will come by and - boom! - they are now loyal to him. How does it happen? And what should you do in this situation?
I'm yet to grow to a level when I conduct a “Client events”, but if you would gather all my Clients in one room now, you will find out that some of them used my services for more than five years!
Here I will show you some useful “secrets” that helped me to build long-lasting relationships with my Clients:
#1 Internal review and commentary
This one is very simple. Using your phone, make some internal shots of your event or building some product, or just working on the client's project. It can be selfies (the best ones are with Clients) or just normal photos. Then write a review of the project that you made, spice it up with photos and send to your client. Note, that this review should be sent not right away, but in a short while, preferably in a month. What will it accomplish?
Well, I’m assuming that everything went well (if it didn't then this review turns into “work on errors” type of thing, which we should discuss separately), then by sending this review you are accomplishing several things:
- you show the Client that you cared about the project (and will care about next one)
- you bring in him/her pleasant memories about working with you (adding some points to loyalty)
- you offer positive critique and you are showing a willingness to improve on the next project
#2 - Building Inter-Client relationships.
Countless times in my life I solved my Clients problems by simply knowing that there are people who can solve their problems, and they are in my phone book!
For example, I can organize a video-production team from the ground up in a matter of minutes (and did so on several occasions). Same goes for computer graphics production. Same goes for engineering crew for almost any complexity event (world-class Dota 2 and Counter-Strike championships provide quite an exclusive contact list)
This ability to ease my Clients pain earned me some very desired reputation of being “man who knows how to solve all things”.
What does it mean for you? If you are attentive enough, then you can learn about some problems that your Client faces, and if you know someone who can solve their problem - connect them! Instantly!
This will tremendously increase your return rate just by itself! Because people remember such things.
#3 - Unexpected visits with gifts.
How do I know what Client needs what in terms of gifts? Because I keep in touch with my clients. And I listen carefully. All of those gifts that you see on the photo in the title are going to be presented to different people. Each bottle of wine will be presented to an advertising agency producers, the book on management will be presented to an architect who (as I know for a fact) is struggling with managing his creative team, and the book on mans style will be presented to an owner of event-agency who is found of man’s suits.
The tricky thing about gifts is that you really have to know your Clients. I keep a dossier-type client base, which I fill using Mackays 66-question spreadsheet. This base helps me avoid gifting cigars to non-smokers, going for a business dinner to the steak-house restaurant with a vegan and so on.
Maybe I will even make a separate case of using this spreadsheet in real life, what do you think?
The gifts must be subtle. You want to show that you care about your Client, not that you want to flatter or bribe him or her. So choose wisely.
And I will recommend using this “secret” not more than one or two times a year.
I want to stress it once again - Remember that your quality of work is not enough by itself. You should build relationships with your Clients, invest in them if you want them to use your services and products again and again.
I hope that you learned something new today and that this knowledge will help you improve your life and your business.
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Yes....You are right ....And thanks to share this great secret for a good connection with our clients .....Really smart idea can big change ..
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Highly insightful...
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