Good businesses attract new clients. Great businesses keep them. It’s simple, really. Your best client is the one that keeps coming back to you again and again. These are the types of long-term relationships that carry design businesses through tough economic times. A successful design business knows the key to profitability is finding the right balance between attracting new clients, while taking good care of the ones it already has.
Every so often, the economy takes a turn for the worse and client budgets dry up, leaving design firms feeling the pinch. Worse, with revenues down competition is fierce from other design agencies for the fewer and fewer accounts that are available. There is good news, however. A more personal approach may help you attract new business and defend your existing relationships from competitors.
Don’t talk about yourself
Avoid sending brochures or newsletters that push information at your clients for your benefit – not theirs. Before sending anything, ask yourself if the client will gain from it. If not, rethink your plan. The more relevant the information you provide, the greater the likelihood of your material being read, retained and circulated.
Start a relationship
When was the last time you had a meeting with a client where you didn’t discuss a specific project? Are you treating clients like a docket number instead of an individual? While quality design solutions are a prerequisite to business success, those firms adopting a more personal approach can turn prospects into clients and new clients into long-term customers. Brian Dodo of BMD Dodo Strategic Design in Kingston, Ont., believes in the power of personal relationships. He views anyone that has regular contact with his firm as a potential source of business. Clients, former clients and prospective clients are all given individual attention. "Client relationships never end," say Dodo. "It’s important to treat people with respect because you never know when they might be able to refer business to you.”
Adopting a more personal approach may be difficult but the results will pay off. You’ll begin to eschew traditional mass-marketing tactics in favor of a customized approach. In a recently completed survey conducted by UK-based consultancy Rainmaker (www.rain-maker.co.uk), a shocking 71 per cent of corporate respondents felt that creative agencies oversell themselves. Be part of the group that is communicating effectively with the other 29 per cent. Your clients will thank you.
Don’t
- Send out a newsletter without including a personalized cover note. A simple Post-it note attached to printed newsletter or a covering email email is enough.
- Think that sending off a newsletter or email is enough to build or maintain a relationship with a client. It’s the start, not the finish.
- Assume that they want to hear from you. It’s good business practice to follow up and ask if the client or prospect wants to continue to receive the information.
- Take relationships for granted. Call clients for no other reason than to say "thank you."
- Feel the need to always talk business. Getting to know your clients as individuals is easier without business issues getting in the way.
- Force a personal relationship with a client. If it doesn’t come naturally, it isn’t going to come. Some people genuinely prefer a business-only approach.
Do
- Let the client know that you are thinking of them as a person and not as an address in a database. Use their first name. The days of "dear occupant" are over.
- Send links to articles or information that directly relates to your client’s business. It demonstrates your knowledge of their industry sector.
- Solicit feedback and content ideas from clients. This is a great way to bring them closer to your business by involving them in your communication program.
- Invite your clients for lunch, for a round of golf or for a cup of tea at your office.
- Invest the appropriate amount of time to develop a rapport. Time working on relationships is time working on building your business.
- Be prudent. Remember that even though your relationship may be more personal, he or she is still a business colleague and should be treated as such.
Craig Swistun, RGD, is VP, marketing for Toronto financial services company. He can be reached at
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