The key to building strong relationships and keeping clients year after year is simple – customer service. At The Power Group, we take pride in our longstanding client relationships. We have many clients who have partnered with us for three, four and five years. One client has been with us for 19! Check out some of our pro tips for building lasting relationships in any industry.
Clear, consistent communication
As they say – communication is key! Anyone who is paying for a service wants to be able to reach out to their primary contact and get the answers they need when they need them. Make yourself available and easy to reach whenever you can! This is why our team creates quarterly plans and conducts bi-weekly status calls with our clients. We create 3-month plans so our clients have a roadmap to follow throughout the quarter. We conduct status calls to check in with our team and provide regular updates every other week. We are also available to our clients anytime they need us throughout the work week via phone or email. For some clients, we even have group texts to quickly communicate!
Avoid over apologizing
This one may sound strange. When mistakes happen (and they always will) the last thing a client wants to hear is apology after apology after apology. They want the problem to be solved! Always make sure to acknowledge the mistake, then move quickly to mend the issue. Try thanking customers for their patience instead of continuously apologizing for mistakes.
Also, be sure to review mistakes as they happen and discuss ways they could have been avoided. Was it due to a process issue? Taking the time to analyze circumstances can lead to critical business changes that can result in fewer future mishaps.
Show them you care
It’s the little things that mean the most. Some businesses and employees choose to treat relationships with clients in a transactional manner. Getting to know your clients – from birthdays and anniversaries to what sports their children are involved in – shows you care about them outside of the working relationship.
At The Power Group, we make an effort to get to know our clients. Our core values Win Together and Create Happiness and Fun reflect this. We’re constantly celebrating not only our team’s wins but those of our clients that may have nothing to do with PR, social media or any of our services! We also have a Culture Committee that plans fun events with our clients and close connections.
Use emotional intelligence
By definition, emotional intelligence is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Emotional intelligence is a very important skill for anyone in customer service, sales or simply working with external partners, should develop. While most skills can be learned, emotional intelligence is something that involves and encourages empathy which is more difficult to gain.
According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped popularize emotional intelligence, there are five elements to it: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Practice and be aware of your ability to execute these five items and you will be using emotional intelligence more frequently throughout your workday.
Ask for feedback
Without receiving feedback how can you better yourself? Asking for feedback is critical to the growth of individuals and businesses. Oftentimes external opinions can be the greatest because people who aren’t in the trenches of your day to day work can bring in new ideas or fresh ways of thinking.
At The Power Group, we not only collaborate with our clients frequently but also have a cadence for requesting client feedback. We send surveys during the relationship as well as when projects end. We appreciate and respect the candid feedback our clients give us because it makes us a better #PowerTeam.