How to Improve Client Relations

Hit a Homerun and Improve Client Relations

In business, we all want to gain a client for life. There are some basic rules and steps you can follow in order to ensure you’re giving yourself the best chance of landing that big client that will be with you for the long term. There are a number of things to consider like your marketing, advertising, public relations, sales strategy, customer service, product knowledge, company values, mission statement, and company vision.

Where to Start

How to hit the client Home Run.

Start With Defining Who Your Team Is

Imagine where you want to be in 5 to 10 years down the road. Use this vision to create the following:

• A Mission Statement (1-2 sentences)
• A Vision Statement (Paragraph)
• A List of Company Values (6-12)

These will define and direct your team & company. They should inspire others to get behind what you have to offer. They are meant to be seen constantly. Always ask yourself “Does this decision align with our mission, vision & values?” These should guide every decision you make.

What Team Do You Play For

Branding lets the world know what team you are playing for. Think of it as a uniform. Branding should allow free flow of your natural abilities without restriction.

Key Factors in Branding:

• Logo
• Typeforms
• Color Schemes

All these should be considered when communicating with your prospects and customers. Your branding should reflect your vision, values & mission that you’ve already defined. Branding will help throughout the entire process of hitting a home run.

Who Are Your Ideal Customers?

Market research should answer the following questions so you know exactly how to swing with your advertising bat.

• Name 3 people or businesses (if you sell B2B) that you’d envision as your clients.
• What are they interested in?
• How old are they?
• What level of income do they have?
• Where do they live and travel?
• What values do they have?
• What are their goals, objectives and dreams?

What are their pain points?
With the correct marketing, you can hit the ball with ease and the pitch will land inside the strike zone again and again. Advertising & Marketing alone will only get you a foul ball or a base hit at best.

Now Swing & Hit That Ball

Advertising is your bat. The speed and timing of your swing is extremely important. The pitch should always fall within the strike zone and the smaller you make the strike zone with Marketing the more effective your bat (advertising) will be. All advertising should reflect your mission, values, and vision and should speak directly to your target audience.

When designing a marketing campaign ask yourself:

• What does this say to my clients?
• Does this align with our values?
• Does this speak to my target’s pain points?
• What is the call to action?
• Are we listing features or benefits?
• Can we boil this down to three main points?

The power of three will work wonders. The average human memory will remember 3 things. If you list 4 one is most likely going to be forgotten. Always, always list benefits over features.

Get to Second Base

Alright, so marketing, branding, and advertising have finally landed you on 1st base (a face to face meeting). This is where your sales strategy comes into play. How do you now turn a single into a double?

Turning a prospect into a client can be the hardest hurdle you face. A good sales strategy should include the following:

• Hurdles
• Over Coming Hurdles
• Building Rapport
• Key to Close Words
• Scripts Built by Marketing
• Setting Expectations

Think of the first basemen and second basemen as objections you may face. How do you plan to get past them? Think of your running speed as your rapport. The more trust you have the faster you can run. How do you plan to build rapport with your prospects? Consider the keywords that signal when a prospect is ready to make a deal or when you should swing the bat to hit the ball. Such as that sounds amazing or how much does it cost. Far to often salesmen will talk their way out of a deal. Less is always more in a sales meeting. There is a direct correlation between the amount a prospect speaks and the percentage of deals closed. The more the prospect speaks the better.

Think of a script as your batting practice. The form should feel natural but should be well rehearsed. If you use marketing information to build your scripts you’ll get a further distance. Lastly and one of the most important subjects to consider. Expectations… Don’t over promise results when speaking with prospects. If you set expectations too high you will gain a client, but they will become unhappy. Set a deliverable level that both you and the client are comfortable with. If you set expectations lower than expected and knock it out of the park, you will have an ecstatic client that will sing your praises.

Getting to Third Base!!!

Many great companies can get that first sale, but only the greatest teams can follow up a first class sales and marketing strategy with exceptional customer service and knowledge. Whatever field you are working in you should be the expert. Follow the latest news. Read the history of the product/service. Be the best of the best. Pair this knowledge up with top notch customer service and you are bound to crack that ball clear out of the park. When it comes to customer service pay attention to the small things. Give out gifts, not money for referrals. Find something inexpensive to give, but useful. If you can find something that you use everyday slap your name and logo on it and give it to your clients for their referrals. Don’t promise anything for referrals. People often feel cheap when they get something in return for a referral, but they will appreciate a gift that they were not expecting.

HOMERUN!!

So your marketing, sales, customer service and advertising is killing it. How do you turn that client into a life-long client and hit that ball out of the park?

Follow up

Many companies will focus on getting new clients offering them incentives or discounts. They are so busy running around trying to gain new clients they forget to tend to their current ones. Make sure to wish them Happy Birthday or better yet Happy Anniversary or Congratulations on a new job or promotion. Social media has made this possible to know this info. A simple congrats or happy birthday reminds clients that you care about them and it keeps you top of mind. If you haven’t seen them in awhile drop them a letter or a quick email. With available automation, this task can be much easier than you realize.

Expectations

As we mentioned earlier setting expectations is key to a fantastic client experience. The lower you set the expectations, without losing the sale, the more likely you are to gain a life-long client. Just remember you may have to reset their expectation each time and you will need to set the expectations of their referrals. If you ever under deliver on a client’s expectations you are going to lose them and may end up with some sub-par reviews as a result. Always consider the expectations that may have been set by another client or by a previous experience with your company. You always want to exceed expectations.

Recap

As we mentioned, define your team with your mission, vision, and values. Get a uniform (brand) that resonates with your customers and prospects.

1. Narrow your strike zone and increase your pitch accuracy through marketing.
2. Increase skill, speed, and timing of your bat through advertising, in depth market research, and a sound sales strategy.
3. Increase your running speed and ball distance through excellent customer service.
4. Bring it home with unique follow up and by exceeding client expectations.
5. Do this and your business will hit home run after home run.

Batter Up!!!