As with any good relationship, building great client relationships requires intentionality. Good relationships never merely ‘just happen.’ However, good relationships with your clients may well be the bedrock of a truly successful business, not to mention your sanity.
After all, who wants to work closely with people you don’t truly enjoy working with? The differences between a good relationship and a poor one are always evident. Great client relationships often feel more like partnerships, exemplifying trust and longevity. They’re built to last, and your business benefits from that trust and longevity. Keep reading for some tips on how to build these amazing client relationships. Hint: it’s not as hard as you think!
Get to Know Your Client
When you make getting to know your client and understanding their needs a priority, you can walk into client meetings with assurance and enthusiasm and present the best version of yourself. First impressions matter, and by getting to know your client, they are left feeling as though you’ve really done your homework.
Learn to speak their language and practice reading the room accurately. If you walk into a client meeting and everyone is buttoned uptight, you know to present yourself more formally. If everyone is seated around a table in jeans and t-shirts, then your tone and level of professionalism may be more relaxed.
Check out their company socials, ask them outright how they prefer to communicate, and assess their company culture to get a better read on just who your client is and how you can best serve them.
Keep Communication Honest
Like any other relationship, honest communication is vital. Make yourself available to your clients, whether that’s via email, phone, or text messaging, and keep lines of communication open. Don’t be afraid to invite your clients to share constructive feedback. Encourage them to be open and direct because, ultimately, it saves you both time and money and gets the job done faster and more efficiently. Set healthy boundaries and clear expectations from the start and build trust over time.
Schedule Regular Check-Ins
Every client and project may be different, so allow that to determine how frequently you check in, but do check in regularly. Maybe you connect once a week, maybe once every few weeks, or maybe daily. Have an agenda for every check-in, and keep things timely and organized. Use that time to update on the project you’re working on and address any issues that may have cropped up. If you don’t check in regularly, you can’t know if something has gone awry, which could lead to headaches down the road and damage your relationship.
Be a Problem Solver
Always remember that you’re there to solve problems for your clients. You can’t do that if you don’t have a clear picture of what the problem is. You need to get to its root to figure out how best to approach it, which means you need to ask questions and this circles back to honest communication. Once you figure out the problem, you can then figure out how to offer the best solution. Ultimately, providing solutions to your client when they don’t have all the answers helps build trust.
Set a Standard and Over-Deliver
There’s an old cliche, ‘under-promise and over-deliver.’ It’s a great adage to follow. Set your client’s expectations from the get-go and be clear and concise about what you can offer, what that looks like, and any limitations or problems you foresee. Then deliver on your promises above and beyond their expectations. Not only does this impress clients, but it also instills confidence in your abilities and trust that they’ve made a good investment in hiring you.
This list could go on but ultimately, building good client relationships isn’t that complicated. It boils down to doing your homework and getting to know your client, committing to communicating with them honestly and regularly, and providing them with solutions they need. It really is that simple.
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