I subscribe to emails from a client’s competitor to stay in the loop on what the competitor is doing. In an email, the competitor announced receiving rave reviews from a website that provides impartial coverage of its industry. Curious, I went to the website to search for my client’s product. Nothing. So I contacted the site’s editor to consider reviewing my client’s product.
I forwarded the competitor’s email to the client with a note that I contacted the editor. When the editor replied, I updated the client. Because I subscribed to a competitor’s email, I found two excuses to stay in touch with the client and made her look good as she took the valuable information to her boss.
Move from me-focused to client-focused
One of the principles of building trust online is client focus. To do this means listening without any distractions, allowing the client to lead conversations and asking questions for deeper insight. In doing this, you’ll better understand your clients’ concerns and learn more about the projects they’re working on.
I take notes during client calls, and then enter action items into our CRM, along with tags to identify topics and companies of interest to the client. (Some people prefer to make their notes after they finish the conversation with the client, so the client knows they are listening 100%.)
For example, the client mentions he’s working to find the right marketing automation platform. When you return to your desk, you search for articles and objective reports comparing marketing automation vendors, such as Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. Forward those to the client. Now the client has valuable information to take back to the team and boss. Result? You helped make him look good.
Ways to make your clients look good
Here are seven ways you can make clients look good:
· Search for recent news and insights on your clients’ competitors.
· Dig up stats that support the work you do or what clients need.
· Find articles and reports that help clients in their jobs.
· Deliver complimentary tickets or VIP access to an event.
· Provide a report on results your company got for the client to show coworkers and bosses they made the right decision hiring you.
· Let clients know about something that hasn’t gone public.
· Share information clients will want to re-share with others in the company.
What can you do for your clients that allow them to show others they’re on top of things? What can you do to help them show others they’re respected?
Another time, I found a great report that was right up the client’s alley. The client liked it so much that she wanted to buy the report to send it to her mailing list. Little things like this show clients that you care about them and their success. It builds trust and gains favor. Zig Ziglar explained it best: “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”
What other ways can you make clients look good?
Building Trust Online Series