Building a Connection With Clients

Building a connection with your clients is important. Have you ever wondered where you stand with one or more of your clients?

You deliver value, help them achieve their goals, but there’s always a nagging feeling of “not enough.”

Perhaps one of your clients, in particular, is short in their emails or doesn’t reply to your communications.

As a result, although the value you’re providing is there, you’re never quite certain whether or not they value your services and whether or not they even want to continue as a long-term client!

This is why building a connection with your clients is important. They need to be treated not like another sale, or a number, or an ATM machine, but as a human being…because that’s what they are!

1. Listen

This is one of the most important yet commonly neglected aspects of building a relationship with other individuals. People LOVE talking about themselves. The more you allow your clients to open up, the more they will.

2. Share Things About Yourself

This is tied heavily into the first point about listening. One of the best ways to create an open and symbiotic communication with someone is to also share things about yourself! The key here is balance. Am I advocating for you to show up to business meetings completely unprepared to talk about the subject at hand, and instead focus the conversation entirely on your weekend plans? Of course not. However, most people are happy to engage in conversations as real human beings before diving into business.

3. Say Thank You

Everybody wants to feel appreciated. Appreciation creates mutual trust, respect and openness between people. Take note of their major life milestones or events and touch base with them on those specific dates with your well-wishes and include a token of your appreciation for them as clients. This can include a note or even a small and thoughtful gift! Again, the key here is balance. You need to be genuine in your appreciation and I’m not advocating leaving daily voicemails with a client with how much you value and care about them. If your “appreciation outreach” isn’t genuine, it’ll be easy to spot. In fact, if you don’t appreciate a particular client, it might be a good sign that it’s not a good fit!

The theme in all of these three points is to be a human being. Sellers and business professionals in general can have a tendency to be “all business” and often that intention comes from a good place. But, nothing can substitute a real and genuine connection between two people!

What’s another way you build relationships with your clients?