I’ve been thinking about the types of business relationships we create and maintain. After all, as an Insightly consultant, my business is all about managing customer relationships. For any business to be successful, there needs to be a positive outcome for both parties involved. A win for you and for your clients! So how do we find and develop these win-win relationships? Here are a few ideas to consider.
Know Your Business
As your business grows, it’s tempting to base your success on the number of clients you have. More clients means more opportunities, right? Not necessarily. What if some of those prospective clients want something you don’t offer? What if your services don’t really meet their needs? No matter how hard you try, you won’t find success in a relationship that doesn’t fit. Remember, you can’t be everything to everyone. So take a step back and think about the specific products and services you provide. Keep in mind the things that make you uniquely qualified to meet your clients’ needs. When you know your business, you know your client.
If a prospective client isn’t a good fit for your business, you can still create a win with a good referral. Seek to develop partnerships with other companies that complement your own. Use Insightly to tag partners and keep potential referrals organized for future reference. It’s ok to tell someone “I don’t think we’re a good fit for you.” But if you can then refer them to a company that is able to meet their needs, you have the opportunity to extend value, open doors, strengthen relationships and even receive compensation. The customer is happy and you are happy: win-win!
Know Your Clients
Knowing and understanding the needs of your clients is essential to creating win-win relationships. Once you have determined the types of relationships that will be a win for your business, you can actively focus on finding and keeping clients that will benefit from what you have to offer. Think about your potential customer. Are they a new startup or an established business? What are their needs? Which product or service that you offer would best meet those needs? Are there other services you could recommend? Each client is unique and will have a different set of needs and opportunities. Create custom fields in Insightly, track similar needs and even pull reports to help you gain a clear picture of your ideal client. Defining these needs will help determine how and, more importantly, if they are a good fit for your business. Identifying the types of clients or companies that will benefit from your business will help you create the win-win relationships you’re looking for.
Successful Business Relationships
With a strong understanding of your business and your clients, you are in a great position to build and maintain successful relationships. You can now focus your efforts on the clients and projects that will benefit everyone involved. Working with the right client, you’ll be able to create additional win-win opportunities. Use notes and tasks in Insightly to manage customer relationships. For example, your marketing agency has just finishing a campaign for a client’s big event. Add a note in Insightly specifying that this is an annual event and create a task reminding you to follow up in nine months to see how you can help them next year. Use your CRM to identify your clients’ needs and proactively plan how to meet them. As you move forward, you should also consider the successful relationships you already have. What makes them work? How can you create this same success with other clients?
Establishing and building win-win relationships takes effort, but the benefits are worth the cost. Your CRM can be a valuable tool in maintaining these relationships. From managing contacts and personalizing business automations to initiating projects and identifying opportunities, managing your customer relationships leads to mutual success.
Let me show you how Insightly can help you create additional client wins for your business. Email me and let’s get started!