If you’ve been an entrepreneur for any length of time, you know that your relationships are the key to your business. From your relationship with your customers/clients, to your relationship with your networking entourage, to your relationship with your vendors – your relationships can make or break you.
So, a great question to ask yourself may be: How do I strengthen my relationships with my clients/customer, networking entourage, and my vendors to help me build a stronger business?
For today’s purpose, let’s take a look at how you can build a better relationship with your customers/clients*:
Without question, this group is your most valuable asset…they ‘show you the money’ month in and month out. Without this group you’d be out of business. Here are some suggestions to reinforce and continue to build your relationships with your customers/clients:
1. Make your products/services better
Your products and services may be ‘da bomb’ already, but can you make them better? Can you add more value to them without raising the price significantly? If you can, which I know you can, you’ll have a much happier customer/client without much extra cost – a customer/client that’ll stick around a lot longer. And, what’s it worth to you for them to stick around just an extra month or two if they’re paying you? Something to think about…hmm.
2. Communicate Often
I cannot stress this enough. Staying in constant communication with your customers is vital to maintaining a strong relationship with them. Just think about your friends for a second. If you don’t talk to them in a while, doesn’t the relationship lose a little bit of its luster? Of course. That’s not saying you can’t rebuild that relationship…it’s just harder and takes more time.
Instead, keep that relationship strong by maintaining constant communication. Some easy ways to do that are: a weekly ezine, a monthly newsletter**, a birthday card…hell, even pick up the phone and call them! Stay in front of your customers/clients and your relationship with them will flourish.
3. Thank Them!
This may seem obvious, but how many times have you thanked your customers this year? Have you sent them a thank you card? Have you sent them, at least, a thank you email?
Thanking you customers/clients, often, will help build and maintain your relationship with them. For example: I give my fitness clients (another business I own) a gift certificate every year for a 60-minute massage. They work hard all year and deserve this as my treat…my way of saying ‘great job’ and thank you for your business.
How can you thank your customers? How can you give back to your clients to make them feel appreciated?
Your relationship with each and every client or customer binds you together and keeps the competition at arms length. Your relationship provides a friendly, and mutually beneficial, environment to work together. And, it keeps the money flowing in!
Never underestimate your customers/clients. Never take them for granted. Build your relationship with them…cultivate it…maintain it…and watch it flourish!
*I’d suggest taking this info and applying to your networking entourage and vendors. Figure out how you can build and maintain a solid relationship with them…now and for years to come!
**A monthly, hard copy, newsletter is the best way to do this. Nothing beats it, in my opinion.
Weston Lyon
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