Keeping in touch with clients, social media or coffee chat?
Keeping in touch with clients these days can be both
difficult and easy with our new technological resources which are readily
available depending on how we use it.
Whether we are out networking, building a client base, trying to land
new business or collecting names, email addresses and numbers for the sake of
collecting, the key is to use our social currency so that we can be
remembered and remember our clients
making it easier to keep in touch. How
many times have we encountered clients only to recall vague details about them
that are associated with their contact information? Besides using word association to remember
clients like “blue eyed Bill” or “sassy Susan” do we ever tie them to their
contact details before adding them to our digital black books? Was your influence such that when you get in
touch with them they would remember you, your brand or your message? Following up with clients and touching base
every now and then is not enough these days as our online and portable devices
hold hundreds of contacts that become lost in translation with our various
databases. LinkedIn, a Facebook Business
page, a blog, a Twitter account – all this helps but it is often not enough.
The key
is to build a personal relationship with each client, follow up, relate to them
both professionally and personally in order to expand your influence to such
where the client will WANT to be in touch with you. One must show that you listen to your clients,
that you understand their business needs and that you are capable of and
willing to solve their problems. In a business age where personal contact is
becoming rarer because of technological factors such as skyping,
teleconferencing etc, the value of an individual with strong social currency
and social capital is increasing rapidly.
In order to win your clients
hearts one has to exceed their expectations, to do this each contact made with
your client should be a mini masterpiece.
Keep in mind the effort made depends on the level of importance the
client has to you or your organization. How should you go about doing it? Via email or newsletters: good, Video
conferencing- skyping: better, In person: best. Taking a client out for coffee
or lunch is by far the best way to have this in-person contact. For groups, you can offer discussion groups
or a workshop on a specific topic to keep in touch with them. Proper client
intimacy can be achieved only through direct personal contact. Keeping this in
mind will separate you from herds of competitors when it comes to keeping in
touch with your clients.
New
York Business Consultants LLC is represented in the US, Europe and China. NYBC
provides consulting, research and business development services for startups
and small to medium sized businesses. The NYBC consulting team helps business
owners increase sales, establish their brand and better understand and access
new markets. More info at: www.newyorkbusinessconsultants.com
