One of the reasons I enjoy working for a company like TopRank Online Marketing is our dedication to the clients have been with us on our journey, and the way in which we are able to work side by side as a team.
In fact, our agency mantra is simple: Client, Company, Community, Self. What does that mean? In every situation that we are faced with we must ask ourselves:
- Is the decision I’m making good for the client?
- How will it benefit the company?
- Will it impact the community?
- Is it good for me?
This seemingly simple reminder of what we stand for enables us to make decisions based on what is best for all parties involved. We’ve been fortunate to have a number of clients who have been with us for a long time. Why? Our team has always strived to go the extra mile for our clients. Below are 4 helpful tips to help you do the same.
Tip #1 – Be On the Lookout For Opportunity
When your business Internet marketing, it is essential that you can think quickly on your feet and adapt when needed. In order to be proactive you must always be on the lookout for opportunities that will allow you to provide your clients with the highest level of services and solutions available.
Say one of your clients is struggling to find a way to better communicate with their internal team. While this may fall out of your direct area of service with them, perhaps you could suggest a they begin using a program like Yammer or Salesforce Chatter to improve the way that they share information.
You may also provide a particular service to a client but believe they would benefit from utilizing some of your additional services. Take advantage of this opportunity and find the RIGHT time to mention it to your client and follow up in a way that is appropriate based on their feedback.
Tip #2 – Always Ask Questions
Some clients will freely offer up information, while others need prompted to share. We’ve gotten in the habit of sending our clients surveys so that we can get and analyze their honest feedback. While using tools like surveys are a great way to augment your communication strategy, they are not the end all be all.
Positive communication aimed at getting to the root of issues, and even successes are essential to success. Make a habit of doing less talking and more listening where your clients are concerned.
Tip #3 – Be Honest With Yourself, Your Team, & Your Clients
No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. Especially if there were certain expectations set with a client and they for some reason or another are not met. However, if you’re willing to step up to the plate and share less than positive news, while still taking a proactive approach to fixing the issue, they’ll know that you have their best interests in mind, and that they can trust you.
Tip #4 – Always Be Innovating
Whether you are a B2C company or a B2B company, your clients are always looking for someone to help them innovate. Organizations hire marketers to help improve the quality and visibility of their company messaging. In order to do that in an effective and efficient way, it is imperative that you’re always looking for new and better ways to provide a quality product to your clients. Innovation comes in many forms and may be something as simple as adding new services to your marketing mix, or finding a new way to solve or explain a complex problem.
I’m sure that our team is alone in believing that taking care of your clients should always be a number one priority. What have you found that your clients appreciate the most about working with you? How have you handled a tough situation, and what were the results?
Image provided via Shutterstock.
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About Ashley Zeckman
Thanks very much for the tips
I think it’s important for people to be realistic with their goals. Larger companies should be dealing with customers in near real time, but on the other hand, smaller companies need to create a schedule that is very consistent, but let’s their clients know they will get back to them within 24 hours if that’s all they know they can manage. The key is to be upfront and honest and set expectations with clients and customers from the beginning.
As a followup to this post and my comment, this video from MSNBC on Customer loyalty and Social Media Marketing is interesting: http://www.hipvine.com/2012/06/12/social-media-marketing-tools-customer-loyalty/
Great article. Excellent points.
Being honest and keeping the lines of communication open are crucial.
This information is really good and I will say will always be helpful if we try it risk free. So if you can back it up. That will really help us all. And this might bring some good repute to you.
Those tips are really helpful for marketers. It is important to be honest and set expectation with your clients or customers so that they can have trust in you. Thank you for sharing those informative tips Ashley.