If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard from your clients in a while, chances are that they’re wondering why they haven’t heard from you!
When was the last time you got in touch with one of your past clients?
Strong communication with clients is essential but all too often it’s easy to forget past clients. Yet it’s fair easier to gain repeat custom from the clients we’ve already spent time building a rapport and relationship with than trying to gain new leads and start from scratch.
So here are my Top Tips for Keeping in Contact with Clients.
Create a Client Database
Having your clients’ details close to hand makes it much easier to keep in regular contact with them. A well organised database, which can take the form of a simple spreadsheet or a complicated CRM system, stored on the cloud means you have access to your clients details wherever you might be. Ideal if you’re stuck in a five hour traffic jam or on the train!
For some helpful hints and tips on creating a contact database, check out my previous blog ‘Keeping track of clients without an expensive CRM’.
Blog About Your Business
Blogging was one of the biggest marketing trends in 2015, but many businesses have allowed their blogs to lie dormant. They could seriously be missing out on client communications, and improving their website SEO.
Blogging is one of the best methods of indirect communication available to every business. Not only does it give you the opportunity to talk about your business, products, services, and latest news in more depth than your web copy will allow, but your content is always available 24/7. So if you can write good ‘evergreen’ content that will still be relevant years from now, you’ll have a mine of useful information on your website that clients will find useful. Search engines like ‘useful content’ too, so it’ll aid your SEO too.
Clearly demonstrating your business expertise via your blog enables clients, and prospective new customers, to start seeing you as an ‘asset’ and the first person they will turn to in future when they need your product or service.
Remember to Stay Social!
It has become routine for many businesses to schedule their social media posts ahead of time, only engaging and interacting with other users in groups or during ‘hashtag hours’. Social media is about being social first and foremost, so starting a conversation is a great way of keeping in touch with your clients and maybe even find out how you might be able to help them.
Top tip! When your client shares a new blog or content on social media, start a conversation around it. It’ll help your client reach a bigger audience, and you’ll get noticed too.
Send Regular Newsletters
It might seem strange to send out newsletters in today’s fast paced video and social media marketing world but they do continue to get great results. It can be a little challenging to get an email newsletter noticed in an already overfull inbox, but if you follow the golden rules of ‘eye catching, informative and personal’ you’ll succeed more often than not.
A juicy newsletter packed with informative articles, tips, recent blogs and other useful titbits is a fantastic way of keeping in touch with all your clients.
Pick up the Phone
Sometimes it’s the personal touch that makes all the difference. When was the last time you picked up the phone just to have a catch up with a client? Why not have a quick conversation then invite them to meet you for coffee where you can find out about their latest news, offerings and where you might be able to help them again.
I hope you’ve found these tips useful, and you’ll start making contact with your clients more often! If you have any tips of your own please do post them in a comment below!