It may be the season of fright, but don’t scare away your clients! Unfortunately, not every potential or current client interaction is going to come off flawlessly. But with focus and refinement of your business, sales, and marketing practices, you can work to keep your clients happy.
Avoid these common mistakes:
- Bad first impression. It’s true what they say – you’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression. In business, you never know where you’ll meet your next big lead or referral partner, so be ready! Specifically, continue to perfect your elevator speech and refine your business goals. This doesn’t have to be a personal impression either; consider how your website attracts and serves newcomers or how your social media messaging is conveyed.
- Seeming ungrateful. Never underestimate the power of thankfulness. People love to feel appreciated and there’s no reason your customers shouldn’t feel this way after each and every interaction with you (and your employees). After all, your success IS dependent on their patronage. Whether it’s a simple thank you after a purchase or a personalized email or letter, seek ways to show your appreciation to your clients.
- Being uninformed. You and your staff are the experts and your clients are putting their trust (and dollars) into the delivery of a product or service. As a business leader, be sure to emphasize continued learning and advancement of the delivery of products and services with your staff. You may have people on your team more well versed in particular areas of your business. Make sure to communicate and emphasize the strengths of your team members and develop a way for your employees to put your clients in front of the right person for the job.
- Breaking promises. THIS is the number one no-no! It’s simple – if you say you’re going to do something, do it. And do it by the exact time (and even earlier) than you promise. Once you fail to deliver as promised, your credibility takes a hit that is hard to recover from.
Need help developing your business development or customer service practices? Give us a call at Piccolo Marketing at 615-348-7768. We’ll help you Build Your Damn Business!
Interested in learning more about business development and customer service? Check out some of my past blogs: