How do you take care of your clients and prospects?
There are many facets of running your own business that can be challenging. But one of the most important aspects is to ensure that you are giving a great client experience. After all, without customers you have no business.
You spend lots of time hiring the appropriate support staff, creating the perfect products and services for your ideal customers, developing and promoting your brand, etc.
However, the preparation is simply the prelude to the success of your business. Once you have laid the foundation, it is essential to capture and retain your market share in order to run a profitable business-and to stay in business!
Now, I do not believe in that old adage “the client is always right”. While the vast majority of your customers have reasonable expectations, you will always find the rarity who either believes they deserve special treatment, or will never be satisfied with what you provide no matter how hard you try. So don’t focus your time and energy on these few bad apples; instead focus on providing the best experience to the majority of your clients and you will have success.
There are three key ingredients that will help you define and deliver quality service to your clients, ensuring loyalty. Let’s break them out.
1. Provide good quality to your clients and prospects.
Okay, that’s easy to say, but what is good quality? The key factor here is for you to define what good quality means to you. How do you want your product or service to look and feel? What guarantees or warranties do you provide for your product or service? Do your employees represent you and your brand in a way that is consistent and matches your values? Do you have proper policies and procedures that are easy to understand and easy to follow?
2. Evaluate your products or services regularly.
The secret here is to continually monitor your product or service to ensure that you are delivering something of value to your clients. Consider sending an email survey to your clients on occasion, asking for feedback. Invite them to express comments or concerns they may have during delivery of your product or service. If you’re working on a project that has deliverables over time, evaluate each step of the process. Take the time to follow up personally with clients on a random basis. Make sure that you address any issues that are brought to your attention immediately. This doesn’t mean that you have to change your product or service, but ensure that the client feels that they have been heard and understands why things are done the way that they are.
3. Never underestimate the value of a testimonial or review.
Remember to ask your clients to share their experiences with your company. Nothing is as effective as a positive review or positive feedback on the experience you have provided to a client. Expressing why they prefer to do business with you, instead of one of your competitors, can be one of the most compelling reasons for new prospects to choose your business in the future. These reviews and testimonials can be provided by the written word, an audio file, or video testimonial. Think about making it a policy to send a follow-up email or make a follow-up phone call with each and every client, asking them about their experience with your business, and then asking for the testimonial. Be sure to get permission to share this information, and post it on your website, social media profiles, and any other appropriate place.
It truly doesn’t take that much effort to ensure that you are providing a quality experience for your clients. Following these three simple steps will help provide the foundation to build a client user experience policy that will give your customers that loving feeling and help you grow a successful business.
Until next time…
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