If you’re in the personal service business, then you know that keeping your clients happy is how you’re going to pay your bills. Whether you’re an accountant, personal trainer, therapist, or any other like-business, you depend on them.
We’ve put together the top 3 ways (that we’ve found) that keep your clients coming back, and refer their friends to you.
1. Keep the communication lines open
The fastest way to keep lose your clients is to not communicate with them. There’s really nothing magical about this. Just talk, email, or meet with them. How many of us have lost a client and to find out if communication was better, we could have saved the relationship? If you’re already doing this, maybe it’s the opposite and your client is a bad communicator–not much you can do there. But, if you give them multiple chances to voice their opinions, then if they decide to leave, it’s probably due to something outside of your relationship. Plus, as we communicate and develop relationships, they’ll refer their friends to us. And that is the best compliment!
2. Prove your worth–over and over again
When you start services, it’s easy for the client to see the value of your services. But a funny thing happens with time–they forget! So in order to keep your clients happy, you have to re-sell your self every chance you get. There’s lots of ways to do this including: newsletters, value-added services, cards, etc. Do what’s best for you and your business. But the goal is to remind your clients of your worth. For instance, when we meet with a client to do proactive tax planning, we often do tax projections. In those projections we always point out that if they didn’t have us helping them, the would be paying $X amount of dollars more in taxes. Our value is proven and quantified.
3. Focus on educating, not selling
Think about the last time you purchased a car. Was the sales man “pushy”, or did he just try to educate and answer your questions? Which was a more pleasant experience? Chances are that it was the guy who educated and answered your questions. What you’re doing is empowering your client to make the best decision for themselves. If that decision to hire you, then it will be a great client relationship since they’re the ones coming to your table. Over time, educators always develop the best relationships, which translates in more dollars for you.
What are your best practices to keep clients engaged? Leave a comment below and let’s discuss!