There’s More Than One Way to Show Clients Appreciation

By Rhonda Campbell

It takes time and effort to nurture client relationships. In fact, nurturing and strengthening  customer relations is a process that never ends. Depending on the type of business you own, you might find it beneficial to contact clients once or twice a month, checking in with them to make sure their needs are being met. To nurture client relationships, you also might have to treat your clients to luncheons, educational seminars, entertainment events and other rewarding experiences.

Doing What It Takes to Make Clients Feel Appreciated

Nurturing these relationships is important because, as reported in the July 11, 2008 “10 Ways to Improve Your Client Relationships” Tech Republic article, “Your clients are your business.” If your clients are other small businesses, developing strong relationships with these clients could bring you thousands of dollars of new business. If your clients are hairstylists, you’ll want to alert them to new products and services you offer – products and services that can grow the hairstylists’ businesses.

There are other ways you can show your customers that you appreciate them.

Let’s say you own a hotel and have several professional sports teams as clients. Not only can you sign long-term contracts with these clients, you could also gain new customers (people who don’t play sports for a living) as professional athletes tell their family and friends about the quality services offered at your hotel. On the other hand, if you treat professional athletes to dirty rooms (doesn’t matter how busy or stressed your cleaning staff is) and fail to send owners and administrators of these professional sports teams holiday greetings and thank you cards, you could lose those valuable contracts.

More Options You Can Use to Nurture Client Relationships

Additional steps you could take to nurture client relationships include:

• As noted in the Tech Republic article, you can thoroughly review contracts with clients (who likes to be surprised to learn they just agreed to pay more for services than they initially thought they had)
• Treat clients to sporting and entertainment tickets
• Hold client meetings at fun and relaxing outdoor locations like golf courses, outdoor cafes and walking trails
• Regularly check in with clients, asking them what you can do to improve their experience of doing business with you
• Contact clients, letting them know when you are going to be unavailable for extended periods of time due to taking vacations, etc. (give them alternative contact information for the person who’ll be filling in for you while you’re out of pocket)
• Send customers birthday cards, holiday greetings, etc.
• Create deals specifically for loyal customers (make these deals available only to customers who support you year-after-year)
• Sponsor free educational seminars that focus on topics related to your business
• Give money to your customers’ favorite community or charitable organization
• Distribute free community news at your business that customers can easily pick up (i.e. community newspapers, local event flyers)
• Develop online customer reward programs customers can purchase one to two free products through a year. Consider setting free gift criteria at a certain dollar amount. For example, you could let customers select from dozens of free gifts after they spend $500 with you over a six month period.

That’s not all. By responding to customer inquiries promptly, you could also show clients that you value them. This might mean that you dump your telephone recording and start letting customers speak to a real person right from the start. Furthermore, joining clients at established restaurants, treating them to a delicious, healthy meal, also gives you the opportunity to discuss important business details and deals in a relaxing environment. Choose the right restaurant, and customers may walk away feeling like you really value them.

If you enjoyed or benefitted from this article, share it with others by clicking the Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus and Share buttons below. You bet!  We appreciate it! 

Click the “Subscribe” button at the side or bottom of this post so you can always be the very first person to receive our updates!

Get Your Copy of Spiral at https://www.ebookit.com/books/0000000841/Spiral.html

Sources:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-ways-to-improve-your-client-relationships/382 (Tech Republic: 10 Ways to Improve Your Client Relationships)