There is no doubt that having a good communication with a client is instrumental for achieving business success. However, due to ever-increasing daily obligations, multiple tasks and looming deadlines we have to juggle on daily basis, we tend to pay less attention to building a long-standing relationship with clients. In order to build and maintain good communication with a client, you need to be able to give, share and support, and not just receive. The successful client relationship is based on mutual trust and should never be neglected. Poor communication does not only produce bad results but it also has a detrimental effect on the entire business. According to Michael Denisoff, who is the founder and CEO of Denisoff Consulting Group in Redondo Beach, it’s virtually impossible to achieve success without building strong relationships.
Here are a few tips how to achieve and maintain great communication with your clients.
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1. Be a good listener
Although most of us want to impress others with our own extensive knowledge and skills and ultimately draw more potential customers, it’s sometimes more important to focus on listening to your customers. Being a good listener emphasizes your virtues and improves the relationship with your clients.
You need to let your clients provide you with the information that will help you to complete the project more efficiently and deliver the best possible results. By allowing them to express their opinion and give you their feedback, they will add more value to the efforts you are putting into the project.
2. Keep your clients regularly informed
While delivering positive results is what you should be focusing on, it’s simply not enough to develop a strong client relationship. Most clients love to be regularly updated about different stages of the project and if there are any adjustments to the projects. Keeping your client in the dark will only have a bad impact on your relationship and may even fall flat.
Keep them informed about the developments of the project and involve them in the project itself by using a small business management software that provides them with insight into all activities your team is performing. In this way, they will be able to keep track of the project development and they will have less matter to worry about.
3. Make it more personal
The omnipresence of technology in this new modern age has had a huge impact on the communication in general. Long are the days when we had to sit at the meeting for hours and discuss various matters and issues that arose along the way. Today, we have an opportunity to use a variety of media channels and a range of communication and other collaboration tools for efficient client management such as Messenger, Facebook, Skype and exchange any necessary information with our customers.
As much as this type of communication might seem efficient and handy, it makes the conversation too formal. If you want to show your customer that you really care, try sending them a personal thank you note ora letter. Also, you can invite them for a drink or a quick lunch in a nearby cafe and have a more friendly conversation with a customer. In this way, you will build a stronger bond with your clients and let them know they can alway count on you.
4. Avoid using technical language
One of the thing you should definitely avoid if you want to maintain good connections is to use jargon. While some of the clients have extensive knowledge of the subject matter and are more likely to understand the technical terms developers and creatives are using when talking about projects, most clients don’t have any experience whatsoever.
Using the terms and phrases they don’t understand might cause them to feel frustrated and reluctant to continue communication. Make sure you either use the language they are familiar with or explain the crucial terms needs and adjust your communication accordingly.
5. Be professional
No matter what your customers’ requirements are, you need to set realistic and actionable goals. Some businesses like doing a number of services at the same time. While this may increase the number of potential customers, it can also be overwhelming for the team who are doing multiple tasks at the same time.
Instead of overstretching yourself, be realistic and let people see who you are. Set clear boundaries, be professional and stick to what you said in the contract. This will make the customers appreciate your work more and will undoubtedly establish a long and successful collaboration.
