8 WAYS OF HEALTHIER RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CLIENTS.

When you are challenged with a looming deadline or an unrealistic schedule, it would be easier to wish for a lesser and simpler role without such demands. Many business owners have divulged that they are sure there are easier ways of making a living than having clients to answer to.

However, this is completely the wrong way to think about it. Thus truth is, learning to be incomparable at understanding and looking after your clients means you can have the best of all worlds. It means you get to work with people you admire, who look forward to hearing from you, with whom you work in partnership, for mutual benefit. Being paid to do work you love is how you win at life always.

Make a great initial impression

From the moment your client commits to working with you, you have a small window of opportunity in which to make a great impression and set the relationship up for success. Loyalty and trust have to be earned, they don’t come automatically. Assume you are starting at zero and be hungry to prove your value and make them confident they made the right decision.

Be on the same team

Working in partnership with your client means being on the same team, working for the success of their business, always.

Become an ideas machine

Operating from the philosophy that you are on the same team and working towards shared goals, your client’s company is now your own company, so treat it as such. Think about its problems and come up with ideas on how to solve them. This can be invaluable to our clients, not to mention a valid reason for continuing to work with us.

Practice coming up with ideas and share all of them with your client. If they want to present these ideas as their own, be thrilled, not affronted!

Take an interest

Always be pleased to hear from your client. Don’t do this because you feel like you must, do it because you genuinely care. Take an active interest in their life, work, hopes and dreams and understand how they think about things and make decisions. When they tell you something, write it down and make a note to follow up about it.

The more you understand and get to know your clients the more you can see the world from their point of view, which in turn helps you do your best work for them.

Take self-importance in your work

No amount of client relationship building will make up for slapdash workmanship. The first emphasis should be committing to excellence in the work that your client has commissioned you for. If it is not good enough, don’t submit it. If you could do better, keep working until you’re proud. Representing your client’s company as if it was your very own means only presenting work that meets your high standards. Make it so good that you are excited to show them. Improve continuously and don't allow yourself to highland.

Make life easy for them

Look for opportunities to take any weight off your client. Send them the video call link, prepare the meeting agenda, explain the next steps and take the notes. Follow up your follow-ups and have a calm, proactive and organised impact on any situation in which they involve you.

If you are a pain to deal with and you don’t do what you say you will, at some point they will just choose out of working with you. Build a repute for being a solid and unswerving person; one that your client is proud to have on their team.

Over-communicate

Everyone loves to receive a good position update and your client is no different. Recurrently send rich outlines of the work you have completed, what you will be working on next, as well as any blockers or action required of your client. The more they understand what you are doing, the more you can work together as a successful team. Display control and ownership and don’t economise on sending status updates, even as small for your information or “no response required” memos.

If someone knows that you are working away at the tasks in hand, it intensifies the sense of amity that you are trying to progress.

Take them seriously

If your client thinks there is a problem, it is up to you to find the solution and communicate it to them. You have two choices here, you can play it down and tell them nothing is wrong, or you can take it seriously and cover all stations in putting it right. Whichever option you choose, your client will choose the other one. “What do you mean this isn’t a problem! I need you to look at this urgently!” or “Don’t worry so much, I’m probably exaggerating, I’m sure it’s nothing.” Take their apprehensions seriously and do everything in your power to alleviate them.

Your clients and their satisfaction are the reason your business exists and it is not something to lustre over. Learning to get good at looking after them will set you both up for accomplishment and opulence.