2nd August, 2019
No matter what your specialty, the ability to make your clients feel valued works wonders for customer loyalty and also increases your upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
As an accountant, lawyer, engineer, financial advisor, copywriter, or other professional worker, your livelihood depends on your ability to not only land new clients but keep the ones you have.
Relationship building is key, and saves much time over the long run, too, as it means less marketing is needed.
Numerous factors impact customer loyalty, but one of the biggest is whether clients feel valued. And clients who feel valued not only stick with you longer, they’ll be more likely to spend more with you and even refer other prospective clients to your business.
Here are five things you can do to make sure your important customers know just how much they mean to you.
Give your top clients as much personal attention as is realistic.
Show them they can reach you when they need to and that you care about providing information and support to them.
Keep in mind that developing a good business relationship doesn’t need to be only about business, either.
READ: Customer relationship management (CRM) basics for business managers
Ask clients about their families, hobbies, and other things that might be important to them.
By paying attention to and remembering these details, customers will feel special and know you do care about them and the relationship you have with them.
Another way to make people feel valued is to think about thoughtful touches you can provide.
For example, send people a voucher or another gift during holiday seasons, or call them up on their birthday or big anniversary days.
Also, thank clients at the end of the year for doing business with you, and express how you hope to keep working with them in the future.
Plus, if you hear about an event you know your client will find useful, let them know about it or even send them a ticket for it.
If you know your client has made a big step forward in their business, help them celebrate this.
Send them a bottle of champagne or a bunch of flowers, or mention their successes on a social media post, giving them a shout out about how well they’re doing.
READ: How to rock your first client meeting
Also, if you know a client has just gotten engaged or married, had a child graduate, completed a university degree, or had some other personal success, congratulate them on it.
Anything you can do to show your customers you think about and remember them will help to cement your relationship.
Another good way to show clients you want their business and to keep dealing with them is to provide extra value wherever you can.
For instance, help educate your customers. Send out updates you learn about new technologies, trends in their industry, or helpful tools (like apps and other software) they could use to be more productive in their business or to cut costs.
You can also provide value to people by introducing them to other professional services workers who might be able to help move their business forward.
Added value comes, too, from providing training, tagging clients in informative social media posts, or doing some tasks at no additional cost.
Extra jobs are best done when you know there’s something you can do quite quickly, but that same thing would take your clients a long time to complete.
You can take many steps to make clients feel valued, but at the end of the day, if you don’t communicate effectively with them, they won’t be happy.
As such, make sure you respond to enquiries as quickly as possible, so customers don’t have to keep chasing you up for information or assistance.
Also, let your clients speak when you interact with them. Listen attentively to their situation, needs, concerns, feedback, and more, and use body language that shows you’re there in the moment, not distracted by other things.
READ: 5 reasons why the phone call is still best for business
If clients say things that hurt or frustrate you, remain professional. Don’t lose control of your emotions, and remember that people often just need someone to vent to.
By communicating politely at all times, this shows customers you care about them and the relationship.
It helps, too, to stay in touch with your top clients regularly.
For example, send them a short email every few months or so to see how they’re going and if they need your services, more information, or any other type of assistance.
Doing this allows you to not only show people they’re valued, but also find out about ways you could be better serving them.
You can also stay in touch by sending out special offers to your VIP list. People love to know they’re receiving access to deals that not everyone gets.
Making clients feel valued might take a little more time, energy, and possibly money upfront, but you’ll find the value returned through customer loyalty is more than justified.