It’s a tale as old as time, GLAD WORKS friends.

You want people to love you and keep coming back to you, but it’s illegal (and morally reprehensible) to slip them a little “love potion” or keep them tied up in your basement. So how is a business owner supposed to woo a customer into a faithful and mutually beneficial long-term relationship?

There are several ways, actually, and today we’re going to talk about a few of the biggies—the ones that focus on relationships rather than simply making business transactions.

People first, clients second

Have you ever gone to purchase something and encountered some smarmy and insincere sales agent?  You know this person doesn’t really care about you; they just want you to buy what they’re selling. They may seal the deal with you, but you probably won’t be back because there’s no bond there. No loyalty.

We always try to focus on our relationship with our clients first because after all, our clients are people not unlike ourselves. They’re business owners too and like us, they’re trying to make a go of things. They come to us because they need our expertise to help them be successful. When you approach it that way, relationships are the priority and the sales are going to happen organically as you build trust and respect and think of folks as people first, clients second.

It’s not unusual for us to have a client’s favorite kind of sandwich delivered to them at lunchtime—just to say “thank you.” We’ve also been known to purchase little presents for their children if we come across something that made us think of them. These personal touches are what keep people coming back to us.

Create opportunities for the customer

As a creative agency, we are always thinking up things that we can do to help our clients. For example, if we think they can benefit from putting e-Commerce or a blog on their website, we’ll let them know. We’re always looking out for them and thinking of things that we can help with. We don’t wait for them to come to us with requests. Instead, we go to them with ideas. Our clients always appreciate that we’ve been thinking of them, even when we’re in between projects. This goes a very long way toward cementing relationships with people.

Always deliver on your promises

Even if it kills you and your entire team to do it, always, always deliver on your promises. Your exceptional service speaks volumes to customers about what you’re all about. Remember what we said about putting people first?  If every one of your clients feels like your #1 client, you’re doing your job. Being reliable means everything, so be sure to set realistic expectations, clear timelines and goals and always deliver. And if you can’t deliver, be transparent about why and what steps you’re taking to fix the situation.  Basically, try to make “promise good, deliver great” your motto and you can’t go wrong.

Believe that you’re the best at what you do

Even when we’re faced with a project we’ve never done before, it doesn’t bother us. We’re always willing to try something new because we have total faith that we can figure out a sensible and elegant solution to any problem that we may face. We believe that we are the best at what we do and that confidence is evident to our clients. They know we’ve got their backs.

Making clients love you is a pretty easy thing to do as long as you remember to focus on giving them a great product coupled with awesome customer service. That’s the stuff that turns clients into friends and that’s the best kind of client to have! 

It’s always amazing to hear people say “We love you guys! Thank you so much!” and we strive for that every day.