A company is only as strong as the strength of the relationships with its clients. This is an area where many companies feel they excel, but one that research suggests is very weak in most situations. When talking on the subject of customer service, I often ask how many people are clients of a company that gives remarkable service. Few hands go up. Then I ask how many listeners give remarkable service and almost every hand goes up!

Question: How can it be that virtually all sales people and owners give great service but customers do not receive it?
Answer: Either we don’t supply the service in a way that the customer wants it, or in a way that they perceive it. This is a critical gap that needs to be filled if we are to build the business we want.

The challenge to all businesses is to improve their customer relationships to unprecedented levels in order to improve retention, gain referrals and develop favorable word of mouth referrals. To accomplish this I suggest a three-pronged system:

1. Communicate,
2. Educate and
3. Support

1. Communicate: To insure your communication to your clients is consistent and on point, you need to sit down and structure a system that insures timely and relevant communiqués with your clients. This should include in-person, telephone, print and digital methods. Schedule how often, when and what is communicated with each method. Companies or sales people who have many clients could divide their clients by size or type and develop a system appropriate for each. The system should be easy to manage and monitor and should supply both enough contacts and a variety of contacts to move the relationship forward.

2. Educate: Insure that all your clients know what product or services you offer and how to receive maximum value from each. Consider different methods to educate. You could supply a book or recording of how to make maximum use ofyour product or services. You could host a welcome event each month to help new and existing clients to receive better value. You could schedule a meeting in person or by phone to review the services that your clients are receiving and help them get more value.  Remember to ask questions and listen to their answers so that you can deepen the relationship.

3. Support: Develop yourself into a“Go To” person for your clients. When they have a challenge they should think of you as the person to call for help. Build a group of experts around you to insure that whatever your clients’ challenge, it will create an opportunity for you to shine. If your own contacts are limited in certain professions, ask your clients who they would use for various needs and develop the relationships you need.

We usually measure success by results.  In the client relationship view of success, evaluate whether you know which clients might be leaving you before they actually do. Do they call you to discuss issues before making a decision? Do you have a clear understanding of your clients’ profession or business? What challenges are they facing? We are rewarded by how well we know our clients.

This level of engagement takes creativity and skill development. An example of developing this skill would be your ability to do these tasks in a synergistic manner. Say you wanted to meet face to face, educate, and add value to your clients, all at the same time. You could schedule a luncheon in which you invited a group of clients that were having a similar challenge and invite in an expert to speak on that topic.

Schedule yourself some planning time. Sit down and develop your Hug a Client Plan with a schedule. Schedule the calls, meetings, events, newsletters–everything that is going to be part of your plan. Now document this system in a form that is easily reviewed to insure that the plan is executed. Try the plan for a month or two and then modify based on feedback. Improve both the plan and execution each month and get ready for the growth your business will have, powered by the improved relationships with your clients.