How to stay ahead of your clients

It’s a well known fact that it costs far more to do business with a new client than an existing one. A lot goes into securing a new client in terms of time, money and resources, which is why the cost of new business is estimated to be five or six times that of repeat business.

In order to increase the ratio of repeat business a number of things need to happen but the essential ingredient is focusing on building and maintaining strong value added relationships. This means that you become, in the eyes of your clients, a valued resource rather than just a provider of commodities, goods or services.

One of the traps to fall into in business is to spend too much time being ‘reactive’, which means only responding to immediate requests. Of course, we want to satisfy the needs of our clients but being proactive and staying ahead of them adds far more value in the long term.

Ask yourself the following questions in relation to your clients to discover how on top or ahead you are.

Circle your score
behind-ahead
1  2  3  4  5    We have co-developed a long term plan.
1  2  3  4  5    We broach subjects/topics that the client hasn’t thought of.
1  2  3  4  5    There’s a good mix of short, medium and long term goals.
1  2  3  4  5    Clients rarely let me go.
1  2  3  4  5    When we have ideas for clients we share them immediately.
1  2  3  4  5    We help our clients develop opportunities and not just solve immediate problems.
1  2  3  4  5    We ask our client to look at the impact of our work long term and making sure it’s relevant.
1  2  3  4  5    We systematically spend time looking ahead for our clients.
1  2  3  4  5    I am rapidly evolving and developing my skills and knowledge.

Of course, you can adapt these questions to suit your business but I’m sure that you get the idea. From the answers you give you can now begin to focus your energy upon the areas where you can create the most long term value.