5 Steps To Gaining Exemplary Customers
Have you ever noticed that birds of a feather flock together? Individuals usually hang out with like-minded individuals. In other words, a person’s group of contacts usually has a fair amount of individuals in it that are just like them.
Here are 5 easy steps to make the most of for adding more ideal clients:
Step 1:
Choose which clients you already have that you would classify as being the ideal client. The easiest way to do this is to pick one client that you (and your team members) really enjoy having as a client.
Step 2:
List the profile attributes that had you think of them as a ideal client. Examples could be:
They are punctual with payment .
They are friendly to you and your team members.
They are loyal clients.
They are punctual for appointments.
They refer other individuals to your business .
This is a mock list and your list would be unique to your business and the types of client you like to serve. The intention of this exercise is to set up a qualifying , of sorts, so you attract more of the exemplary ones – not just grow the numbers of clients. After all, isn’t that what you would love to work towards – only serving clients you enjoy?
Step 3
List a few other ones that also share these profile attributes. This exercise is usually pretty eye-opening to see how many of your clients you really like serving versus the ones you would rather do without. (Using this process of gaining more clients will make room for you to get rid of the less than desirable ones down the road.)
Step 4:
Create a strategy of effortlessly and routinely letting the client on the list you just created know you value them. For example, What is something you could do that would be so remarkable they would be inclined to contact all their contacts and have a “Guess what happened …” phone call about an action you took. It could be a birthday or anniversary card (although in many niches , sending a card is ordinary – and not falling in the extra-ordinary category, which is required, for this to be powerful ).
However, sending a gift is not common-place . How many of your client are young families that are now having babies ? Sending newborn baby gifts would be so outrageously extra-ordinary and it is sure to be worthy of lots of conversations about unique you are!
In fact, I would venture to guess if you did send a unique baby gift, you would be the talk of the town every time they looked at the gift. You would have to work pretty hard at losing them as a client after that act of generosity . And they would be sure to sing your praises !
What competitor in your niche is going to do this for those new Mom’s and Dad’s?
Actually, there is already a trend developing in this direction. Many professionals – doctors , lawyers , insurance agents, real estate agents, for example - are seeing the value in setting aside a small percentage of their marketing budget for client relationship management. Client loyalty and referrals abound when professionals thank their existing client for doing business with them by sending a small gift of congratulations for important events. The investment of this strategy bears fruit in attracting new clients.
Step 5:
If you have completed the first four steps, get prepared for the appreciation that will be streaming into your office. And celebrate what a caring and savvy business owner you are in implementing this new strategy for gaining new client by acknowledging the ones you already have.
About the author:
Pat Graham-Block has been coaching small to mid-size business owners in how to strategically build their business with trend setting ideas that work. She is also owner of Simply Unique Baby Gifts, an online store that offers a large selection of newborn baby gift baskets ready to be delivered to the new happy parents on your behalf.
Posted on: Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 4:50 pm 
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