One thing you’ll learn very quickly when you start building your business is that it’s MUCH EASIER to keep clients than to find new ones. Clients that continue to come back and (even better) send you referrals are the lifeblood of a successful business. Keeping your clients happy and giving them rock star customer service should be a huge priority in your business.
A great way to ensure you are providing consistent value to your clients and going beyond their expectations is to – you guessed it! – have a system for managing your clients in place!
Here are 3 components to a kick ass client management system that will always lead to happy clients, returning clients and referrals!
Clear Expectations
I have talked about this alot when discussing a solid client onboarding system but it’s worth repeating because it is CRUCIAL to happy clients. Clients that know what to expect and when to expect it aren’t left feeling frustrated, confused and blowing up your email.
Any of this sound familiar:
- Clients don’t get you what you need to complete your work on time.
- Clients emailing you random tasks/questions/ideas – topics that should be addressed during your calls.
- Clients that start asking for work that falls outside the scope you agreed on.
The outcome of these scenarios is a frustrated service provider (i.e. you) and a client who is either angry because you aren’t delivering what they **thought** you were supposed to deliver or frustrated because you aren’t getting back to them “on time”. No good.
Monthly Checkins
It doesn’t have to be monthly but regularly checking in with your clients has three big benefits:
- It shows them you are dedicated to helping them reach their goals.
- Keeps you on track (i.e. avoiding rabbit trails and bottlenecks).
- Heads off at the pass any misunderstandings or objections your client may be experiencing.
We’ve all been there – blind-sided by a client that suddenly stops paying, stops showing up or ends working with you feeling empty handed. Everything was going great – until it wasn’t. Regular checkins can nip all this in the bud and can be really easy to do. A simple email, form or questionnaire can do the trick.
Include questions like:
- How would you rate our progress so far?
- How confident are you we’ll reach our goal?
- Is there anything else I can do to support you?
Answers to questions like these can make or break your client relationship.
Show Up
I mean like really – show up. When it’s time for a client call be prepared, know who you’re talking to, what you discussed last time, and how they’re feeling in their business. Playing catch up for the first 5 minutes of every call does NOT make your client feel valued and it makes you look like either 1. You don’t care or 2. You aren’t organized (and thus not providing quality work). Considering I know you care (a really lot) about your clients, then the solution is the latter – get organized!
Make sure you have a “folder” for each of your clients. This could be a folder on Google Drive, a Trello Board or even an actual paper folder. Whatever it is, have a place where you can keep notes about your client. These don’t need to be fancy or overly detailed. Even scribbles (as long as you can read them and keep track of them) will work.
Here are some things you should be jotting down during meetings:
- Your client’s current frustrations/wins.
- Any major decisions made (ex. Your client tells you they are going to launch a podcast, start a group program, considering rebranding). If it’s important to them, it’s important to you.
- Any tasks they’ve asked you to follow up on or any tasks you want to hold them accountable for.
Taking time to make even these few notes will make is so easy to show up (like for real) for your clients.