Don't let clients wave goodbye to you
You sign on a new client, and after a while you think the client would benefit from a new service you’re offering. But the client will have nothing to do with it. In fact, the client won’t take or return your calls. What’s going on?
Chances are, you didn’t nurture the relationship and give the client a reason to trust you, says Colleen Francis, President of Engage Selling Solutions. In this week’s podcast interview, Why Clients Leave and What You Can Do About It, Francis advises how to avoid that problem, explaining the most common reason why clients leave and the two essential pieces of a client retention strategy.
If you develop client relationships and build trust, you can also prevent clients from leaving should the giants in your industry decide to move in on your turf. You can also fight back with creative marketing strategies, says Bruce Marcus in his article, What to Do When You’re Surrounded by Giants Who Want Your Clients.
The large firm may have a large marketing team, but smaller practitioners can use the same strategies—write articles, writer for a blog, give speeches, and use social media. Marcus outlines a 12-step plan that small firms can use to fight the giants.
Many businesses already recognize the significance of doing such content marketing, increasing spending in that area by 11%, according to a recent survey by Junta42. But small businesses are really taking the ball and running with it, spending almost twice as much on content marketing than large firms.
Content marketing sounds like a great idea, you might think, but where will you find the time? After all, you need to call on prospects and clients, network, study research, and help leadership secure new business. Anne Scarlett suggests in her article, No Time for Content Development? Here’s a Solution, that you delegate the writing. Don’t give it up completely, but oversee the process so that the firm’s message remains clear and its expertise is evident. Follow her four-step process for the best way to beef up your content marketing without running yourself into the ground.
You can do all the content marketing in the world, but if your firm follows old practices it won’t be able to compete, says Suzanne Lowe in her article, Legacy Business Practices Hurt Service Firms. It’s essential that firms break down marketing and business development silos, she says. They must put in place three structural frameworks so that they may compete effectively, grow market share, and better serve clients.
