Making your clients fall in love with your business is the secret to being successful as an entrepreneur. That’s the only way to monetize your passion and to survive the first of the five stages of small business growth: existence.
Your ideas, products, or projects are one of a kind. Your small business is unique also because you put your heart and soul in it. But your mum is your biggest fan. Do you want to know how to change this?
Here are a couple of tips that will help you improve your connection with your clients and skyrocket your small business.
Earn their trust
Approach your clients openly and honestly. Explain your services and your prices. Always give the customers a heads up if something goes wrong instead of waiting for them to approach you whenever an issue pops up.
Throughout your communication with them, always make sure that they’ve understood everything and they don’t have any questions.
Another way to gain your clients’ trust is to offer them a free tryout. Depending on the type of your small business, you can come up with something small that will convince them that your product or service is worth it. For example, if you have a tea shop, let them try a tea of their choice. In case you have a yoga studio, offer a free yoga lesson.
There are some cases where the idea to provide a free sneak peek in your small business is not applicable. Then consider offering a generous discount on the first purchase so that you can hook your clients up!
Improve your brand presence
Let’s say you’ve been spending days and days in spreading the word for your small business. If the rumors have finally reached a potential client of yours, what would be the first thing they do? Google your brand.
If you don’t have a neat website, your last social media posts are from 2010, and there is no information online about you or your business, you’ll lose them forever (dramatic music).
All of the above depend on you – even if you’ve just started as an entrepreneur, keep it professional. Nowadays, establishing a modern and attractive brand image is half the battle won.
Write an easy-to-understand description of your products or services. Publish some social proof, like testimonials from your previous clients or portfolio. Make sure that you keep the same tone-of-voice whenever you talk to your audience.
If you need help with standing out in the cluttered online environment, check out Zen Content Studio – the one-stop-shop articles, eBooks, guides, blogs, and social media posts!
Keep your clients posted
To make sure that your clients will keep on coming back to you, you should keep them updated. Send them a line from time to time or write an email with hand-picked information related to their business. Even if they don’t need your tips right now, they’d highly appreciate your efforts. This way, you’ll keep your brand top of mind.
Related: Become a Successful Freelancer by Getting Into This Mindset
For sharing updates related to your business, use its social media channels. If you’d like to share more insights or you’d like to strengthen the bond with your clients, you could also start a blog.
The blog articles can also be used as content for your newsletter – a great way to remind your customers of yourself once in a while!
Share your knowledge
Don’t be shy; show off how much you know! Use every opportunity to share your knowledge with your potential customers.
By discussing topics related to your niche or brainstorming on new concepts, you’ll be able to create a great impression. In fact, this is the way to become the go-to person in a particular field.
If your everyday routine doesn’t include a lot of networking possibilities, you could also share your knowledge online. Create an ebook or use your blog for this purpose. Write about the specifics and hottest trends in your niche in an easy-to-understand and attractive way.
And what if you don’t find the right words or you just don’t have time to deal with such things? Contact me, and I’ll do it for you!
Surprise them
Goes without saying that the surprise should be positive. Always deliver more than promised!
But how to achieve this without burning out? If you have to work on 110% for every client, at a certain moment, you’ll be completely overwhelmed and stressed out. That’s why you should keep this step in mind ever since the first time you talk to your client.
Related: 7 Types of Difficult Clients and How to Deal With Them
When you discuss what you could do for them and how long it would take, always set realistic deadlines. If you think you can do a specific task for a day, make it two.
There’s a great possibility that something unexpected happens, so it’s crucial to include the time for it in your estimation. In case nothing happens and you’re ready earlier than promised, your client will be positively surprised!
Walk the extra mile
I was working for one year as a customer service agent. There were a couple of phrases that the company really liked, like “Walk the extra mile” and “Exceed the expectations” were among them.
Honestly, I feel sick of hearing these phrases because they remind me of the worst time in my professional life. But as an entrepreneur, I understand how important they are if you want to make your clients crazy about you.
Whatever your niche is, you should take extra good care of your clients. The market is too crowded, and it’s so easy to lose them!
Always be enthusiastic about their business, ask questions, and try to read between the lines.
Do something extra – come up with an idea, provide feedback, or overperform without charging extra. Surely, there are things they need, but they haven’t realized it yet. If you’ve played your cards right, this client will be yours forever.
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