In honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share some of my favorite tips for beginning, maintaining and deepening your relationship with your community, and your clients. In fact, let’s think about this through the lens of dating relationships.
Your relationship with your community starts the moment that your potential client sees any of your content (the flirting phase), through the dating phase when he/she checks out your free gifts, blog, webinars, etc, and continues until they’ve become a client, been a part of all of your programs and services, and become a long time referral partner (a happy marriage!). And sadly, we’ll all experience our share of “break ups”.
Let’s look at some ways to show the love during each of the relationship phases.
Flirting At Its Best
The equivalent of flirting in your relationship with your community is your content marketing strategy. Each time you offer a free gift, participate in a tele-summit, ask a referral partner to promote your webinar, etc. you are saying to your potential client “Here’s a peek at what I’m all about. Are you interested?” Here are 3 tips for successful flirting!
- Add value that’s valuable – There are an unending number of free gifts you could create that add value to the right target….but you must be sure that the content is VALUABLE to your ideal client. Be sure to get really clear on what the key problems and pain points are to your ideal client and design your free gift around that!
- Ask about them – Who doesn’t want to talk or learn about themselves? Consider building in a short survey at the end of your lead magnet, or even develop an assessment as a lead magnet.
- Talk in their language – As in any relationship, when you speak in the same language, it’s a whole lot easier to connect! Talk to your clients and ideal clients and notice how they talk about their dreams, their fears, and their pain points. Use this exact language in your marketing materials for successful flirting.
Getting to Know You
Once your “flirting” has resulted in a “date”, typically in the form of an opt in to your list, it’s your job to continue to deepen the relationship by getting to know them and giving them the chance to get to know you. Keep these tips in mind in the dating phase…
- Set expectations – Always include a “welcome and nurture sequence” for new people in your community. It sets up the framework for the relationship, let’s new community members know what will be coming, and will reduce quick opt outs!
- Ensure two-way communication – Just like in dating, the conversation need to go both ways. Encourage your community to communicate with you as you communicate with them. Use surveys, ask questions in Facebook posts, use Facebook live to invite comments, etc.
- Develop a Content Marketing calendar – Make it easy on yourself and lay out a plan for staying in touch with your potential client. When you take the time up front to lay out your plan, it’s much easier to come up with a natural progression of content that deepens the relationship.
Saying “I Do”
Once you’ve popped the question (asked for the sale) and you have a new client, the real fun in the relationship begins! In this “marriage” phase, it’s even more important that you give your relationship the attention it deserves!
According to a Harvard Business Review Report, improving your customer retention rate by just 5% can increases your profits up to 95%! And taking care of customers doesn’t just mean delivering your content and answering customer service questions. It also means proactively maintaining the relationship. Here are few ways to proactively manage your client relationships.
- Set up an automated client onboarding system – When a new purchase is made, the way that the client relationship starts is critical to long term success. Be sure to set up an automatic onboarding sequence from the second their credit card clears.
One onboarding email is not enough, as emails get missed and people get busy. Include videos wherever you can, and be sure to track when your emails or opened and send extra follow ups to those clients who aren’t opening your communication.
- Know when the relationship is waning – These days, your email management systems is amazing at supporting you in knowing who are your most engaged clients and who is perhaps not answering your calls. Set a weekly or at least monthly practice to reach out personally to clients who haven’t read emails or logged in to your online resource centers to re-engage and explore how you can support them where they are now.
- Recognize your high-end clients – All customers are important, and yes, those who are paying for your most expensive programs deserve more attention and support from you. Be sure to have a system in place to personally welcome new clients for your high-end programs, and consider special attention like a welcome gift, surprise “bonuses”, or even an unexpected gift of your time to keep the relationship vibrant.
Managing the Break Up
Sometimes despite your best efforts, it just doesn’t work out. When a client cancels a program or service, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “over”. Sometimes you can learn more from these clients than those that love everything you do. Here are some tips for managing the break up.
- Ask for feedback – Send an email letting them know you are sorry to see them go and that you’d love to correct any mistaken information or bad experience that may have led them to cancel. Ask for a simple “reply” with their feedback.
- Offer a free consultation – Sometimes a personal call can go a long way. Reach out via phone and offer a free consultation or other gift of value to re-engage.
- Bonus offer for another purchase – Sometimes a client makes a purchase that just wasn’t the right decision for them. If when you talk to the client this is the case, offer an alternative, with perhaps a credit for the purchase they have already made. You just might have a client for life.
Every phase of the “relationship” journey with your potential community members, your present community members, and your clients is an opportunity to make a difference.
Use these tips to build the relationship you want with your community. I’d also love to know your favorite tips to create the perfect relationship…with your business contacts that is! Share below!
