Effective communication with current or prospective clients plays a vital role in building your business. Doing so shows that you prioritize your clients, can communicate professionally, and that you take your business with your clients seriously. Here are some ways you can connect with your client base to ensure that you will always have successful and productive relationships.
Talk Less and Listen More
When clients contact you for any reason, be receptive. Listen to complaints and suggestions just as well as you would listen to praise and appreciation. People like to feel that their opinions matter, especially when it comes to things that they are spending money on.
When your clients notice that you care about their views and consider their ideas, they are likely to remain loyal customers and may even spread the word to others who will want to do business with your company. Provide a FAQs section on your business website where they can turn to find answers, include a comment or feedback link at the end of every email you send, and respond to every inquiry or message you receive daily. The more you listen to your clients, the better service you will be able to provide to them and other clients in the future.
Separate Personal and Professional Communication
It becomes difficult for any business person when the boundaries between work and home are not clearly defined. To prevent this, set up a business phone system that is kept separate from your personal communication. A manager’s mobile phone number may be convenient for clients, but some may hesitate to use it, preferring instead to communicate via company phone lines and email.
Always use a business email instead of a personal one, and establish social media accounts for your company for business purposes only that do not include personal information for company employees. Not only will this help you to appear more professional, it will also assist in keeping you from blurring the lines too much between your personal and professional life.
Provide Written Follow-Up
Following a virtual or live meeting with clients or any type of email or phone contact, send a response message that briefly summarizes the conversation or the comments that were posted online or left in a voicemail message. This will help to ensure that you have correctly understood everything that your client was telling you and that they will be able to remember everything you responded with. Plus, everyone wants to have their communication acknowledged and receive a meaningful response. Failure to acknowledge your conversation with a followup may send your clients to a competitor for more efficient business communications.
Keep Detailed Records
When a client calls to discuss business of any kind or if you participate in an email exchange or respond to a voicemail, keep a record of the information that was shared both ways. The concern being addressed may continue for some time, and early records will help to clarify what was discussed and resolved along with what remains unaddressed. You can keep an informal file note of these interactions or send a written response to the client showing your understanding of the communication that took place. If there is a problem, the client will let you know so it can be corrected. This will also help in assessing how well your employeesare communicating with clients and in what areas they may need to improve.
Clear, honest, and accurate communication is essential for successful business relations. Keep your communication lines open and be sure to welcome and acknowledge messages from your clients with an apt response.
