by Jerry Mooney
While it’s essential to consider that all customers are the same and should be treated with the same respect time and time again, when handling clients that offer a large revenue potential for your firm, you’re going to need to match the standard of service expected. Even businesses that may not be dealing with high-profile clients can benefit by acting as they are. As they say, dress for the job you want and not the job you have, your business should act in a manner that could cater well to the clients you one day want. This benefits your current set of customers, because you’ll bring a higher standard of service there.
While there shouldn’t be any personal discrimination or judgement from client to client, it’s only natural for your firm to try and get everything right when a client with plenty of profitable potential comes to play. For this reason, and to ensure repeat high-profile custom, you may consider the following business implementations:
Availability
Staying available for your clients can be the thing that distinguishes yourself from the competition. It doesn’t take long for a valuable client to find another firm if you cannot deal with them in a decent time frame, or if you make them wait for the bulk of your offering. Does this mean you should bend over backwards and harm your production output or risk alienating other clients to prioritize this potential work? No. Learning to say ‘no’ when your business is at full capacity can be a worthwhile decision to make as a business leader, provided it’s polite and you refer them to worthwhile services.
However, if you can, taking on a little extra work and incentivizing overtime at your firm, or simply prioritizing this client when needed personally could help you stay competitive. Just be sure no precedent is set for one job which may not be sustainable for you, as this can often lead to the expectation being crafted that you simply cannot manage or deal with effectively.
Consider how you are expected to be available. Might it be that you have a personal phone line as the business leader, and interface with them specially as they come to inspect your services or product line? Might they have a team or assistant to interface with? Just how might two different businesses interact? This can change depending on the origin of the interfacing business, or what kind of customs you are both used to. Keeping your ear to the ground and using your best understanding can help you to no end here.
Documentation
Documentation should be absolutely crisp, prompt and completely professional. You should provide them client everything they need to gain a full transparent understanding of what you’re offering them. You should protect their information with everything you have, as even a small leak can potentially lose you many clients for good. You must also be willing to provide them full knowledge of any data you hold of them, as this might be a point of interest for large firms, and it’s also part of the legal code. Documents should be professional, uniform, informative, and streamlined so your client isn’t buried in paperwork for simply interfacing with your business, as this can sometimes feel like a punishment. You must also understand how to refer to the client, what customs they might be expecting, and how you might tailor your greetings through that.
Uniform Contact
It can be important to ensure that all contact with the clients are routine, but also uniform. While we’ve emphasized the potential of a ‘personal touch’ in a positive light in this article, it can also be worthwhile to ensure that any support tickets, initial contact and further exploration is handled by a competent yet potentially automated system. This not only saves your staff time, but gives clients a continually professional point of reference every time they try to interface with your firm. This can be more important than you know. No matter how ‘friendly’ you try to be with a new client, never dropping the ball when it comes to the professionalism you offer is absolutely the most important thing.
In highly specialized services, this can be a massive benefit to you and your firm, especially if you a run a business that often handles quite sensitive matters on a case by case basis. For example, those contacting a law firm would be best met with legal virtual assistant services, those that can grant a degree of predictable care and information about your process without compromising the initial contact with false assurances or the human error when trying to ascertain business.
Referrals & Advice
You’re not always going to be able to grant good advice to those you deal with. This can be essential to keep in mind, because it can avoid you taking on jobs you’re simply not equipped to deal with in order to try and gain a new, lucrative client. Instead, sometimes professional and polite referrals or even giving your advice where necessary can help out a client. When you have taken your time to level with them, point them in the right direction, give them an insider tip and let them on their way with goodwill, they might just remember you when looking for the next firm to interface with appropriately. This might sound like it doesn’t quite matter, but it can be much more important than you might realize.
Keeping Your Business Strength
Business clients with plenty of money to spend can sometimes expect you to bend to their whims. While businesses might offer some excess arrangements for those willing to pay, and while they might like to ‘take good care’ of their guests, a business is a business. Sometimes, keeping your business strength and rejecting outlandish requests, or stopping processes that might have an affect on your other clients can help you retain your integrity. This will be highly specific to the situation you’re in, but never rule it out as an option.
With these tips, you’re sure to handle high-profile clients with diligence.