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Better communication to attract and keep your clients
Communication is the key 🔑 to building a successful business!! IMO!
We all know that if you have a good marriage, for instance, it's probably down to having great communication and the same can be said for our business relationships too!
So, can the lack of communication break your business too?? too right it can and I will show you why?
What contributes to your customer service?
Your customer service is made up of a few different elements.....your website and branding, your written content, your systems in the backend of your business and then there is your actual communication.
It is the whole package which equals the overall satisfaction of working with you.
Your communication directly impacts your customer service and you can improve this dramatically!
You can relate this to dating apps!
I have been on many a dating app in the past...oh the joys!!
You find someone you think looks nice, you read about them and you're interested!! You send them a message in the hope of a quick response to show they are interested too....a week passes by, what the hec!!??
Eventually they message you and you think....I'm so over this! You've gone right off the boil and in that week you've moved on and spoken to other people that have messaged back in a timely manner!
If they had been a bit keener and showed interest a bit quicker you'd have responded in a more positive way and would want to continue with getting to know them.
You get my drift?
Your potential and actual clients need to feel special!
When you don't make clients feel special and a priority they will move onto to someone else and you will lose them, to be blunt!
If it's taking you a few days to respond to a new enquiry, then what you are effectively saying to this client is.....'I'm too busy to respond to you and I can take or leave your business!'
I'm sure this happened to you before when you've needed a plumber or a gas man for your home and you ring around or send emails and they just don't respond! You think...'do they want my business or not?'
Working with a new client is like building a relationship with someone you are talking to on a dating app.....it's exactly the same!
Potential clients are not mind readers.....they don't know you are away from your desk for a couple of days and by the way.....an out of office does not cut it!! They don't know you are dealing with other clients and you can't get back to them in a timely manner....don't forget they will move on!
It's the small details that make the biggest impact!
What is the impact of non-communication?
We’ve talked about how a timely response (or not) can make a potential client feel special....or not!
Responding speedily gives the potential client the feeling that they are valued and that they feel special. It also shows you are on the ball, gives them confidence and trust that you have your sh*t together!
A slow response says....'you are not my priority and I'll get back to when I have time!'
We do all have our own definition of what timely is, however communicating that is the crucial thing!.
How often do you need to communicate?
This depends on the project and what industry you work in, but defining the frequency you communicate should be mapped in your customer journey and then telling your clients upfront what they can expect will again give them confidence and will stop the emails and messages flying in saying....'I've paid you so what next?!'
We tend to communicate when we want our clients to do something, book a call, fill in a form, give feedback.....that kind of thing!
But going above and beyond this and making the experience even more special is keeping them in the loop of what is coming up next, what you are working on in the background, finding out how they are feeling.....this has a big impact on the customer service and will surely keep them referring you and bringing in even more clients.
How do you structure your communication?
“If you don’t tell them they won’t know”
Never assume what your clients/potential clients know.
This is all new to them, they might not know what to expect, they may be nervous of working with you/anyone and need reassuring.
Tell them what they need to know, tell them what you need from them, give them deadlines, tell them the process and the structure....they won't know unless you tell them.
Make your communication friendly but also clear, concise and informative. Don't overwhelm them or send them an essay - they will switch off!
Avoid long paragraphs, use bullet points or numbers and send two emails instead of one humungous long one!
We all have the attention span of a knat these days and so short and sweet is always better than long and boring!
How can you improve your communication?
➡️ Have a review of your current emails that you send your clients. Map out the customer journey (ie. the steps you take with your clients depending on the service you are offering them)
Try to put yourself in their shoes 👠,look at things from where they are....does it make sense, is it too much, do they need more info, would it confuse them?...those types of things. Check out my free mapping out your customer journey workbook
➡️ Take a look at how quickly you would like to respond to your clients, how many days before you are needing to chase them for things that you might need from them.
Do you have time to respond to your client in a timely manner now? Would you benefit from automating your emails going out?
➡️ Are you repetitively doing the same things over and over again manually, when you know that automating would save you masses of times?
Do you also find that people aren’t completing information that you need on time, which pushes the project out and you keep forgetting to remind them? Most of the time, this happens because you don't really know what goes when, who's already had the thing, when it needs to be returned and it's all a bit of a mess really!
➡️ Do you feel that lack of communication is turning away clients or that current clients are getting frustrated due to lack of communication?
This brings us back to the very beginning again where communication is the key 🔑 to a healthy, prosperous business relationship that can last a lifetime and they will be singing about you from the rooftops to anyone and everyone they meet!
And lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for help! It’s completely natural to feel like this situation is beyond repair and that you are not good with tech etc....but STOP!! It's only because you haven't been shown yet how you could make it better! If you are feeling overwhelmed and you want to speak to me about how you can improve your communication by automating it then you can book a free call here.