There is nothing quite like working with a quality client. No matter what type of business you are talking about, having clients that make life easy is the difference between loving what you do and dreading that alarm clock every morning.
But just as you are constantly looking to bring new and better clients into the mix, your competitors are likely making efforts to pick off your best clients. The best defense against these attacks is maintaining a quality relationship with those clients that goes beyond the work you do together.
In order to help you keep those quality client relationships in a good place and build toward even better business relationships, we put together five creative things that you can be doing to keep clients close to you this year.
Get Active on Social Media
The easiest way to keep your best clients close is to have an ongoing conversation with them, and there is no easier way to make that happen than to simply get active on social media.
Regardless of how you might feel about social media from a personal standpoint, there is simply no denying the power of putting yourself out there from a business perspective. Start sharing little bits of your day with your audience and let them get to know more about you.
Attend Public Events in Your Community
In addition to making yourself public on social media, you should also make a point to head out to a wide range of local events in your community.
While you might rather be kicking back at home, forcing yourself to attend public events will have you interacting with a wide range of potential clients, as well as bumping into plenty of your current clients.
Send Out Those Holiday Cards
It might not seem like a big deal, but something as simple as sending out cards to your clients during the holidays can strengthen your relationship with them for close to zero effort on your part.
This works even better if you are able to plan ahead and get cards with your family pictures printed on them, as that will form an even deeper bond with your clients.
Send Birthday Cards to Your Clients
In addition to holiday cards, sending out birthday cards to all of your best clients should definitely be something that ranks high on your marketing priority list.
Everyone loves to feel special on their birthday, and the fact that you made the effort to remember their day will impress even the toughest of clients.
Tickets to Sporting Events and Concerts
If you really want to go the extra mile for the best of the best clients, think about hooking them up with tickets to a local sporting event or a concert featuring one of their favorite performers.
Experiences like sporting events and concerts form a lasting impression in our minds, and being the person that made those memories happen for a particular client will cement you in their minds as the person that they want to be doing business with.
At the end of the day, building relationships with clients is actually quite similar to building relationships with any other family member or loved one. You have to make an effort to put yourself out there, and then you have to deliver on what you promise.
If you make the effort to put these five ideas into action, there is no doubt that you will see a strong return on your time investment on the bottom line at the end of the year.
