Building genuine, long-term relationships with your clients isn’t only fulfilling…
It also brings in repeat business and new referrals– two of the best ways to create sustainable revenue in your business.
In fact, almost 65% of a company’s business comes from repeat customers, according to SmallBizGenius.
If your customers fall in love with not only the quality of your product or service, but also feel emotionally connected to your BRAND, they’re much more likely to work with you again — and tell their friends about it 👀
But building strong client relationships goes deeper than having a few surface-level conversations about the weather and your favorite coffee order (sweet cream cold brew, duh!).
Here are my favorite strategies to build AUTHENTIC relationships with my clients and stay meaningfully connected with them for a long time to come.
How to Build Connections with Clients in an Authentic Way
1. Sprinkle in Personal Touch
People LOVE to feel special.
Wouldn’t you enjoy it if you walked into your favorite lunch place and they already knew your order?
Making your client experience as personal as possible is a great way to connect with your customers and show them that you care about who they are.
Here are some of my favorite ways to add a personal touch to your customer relationships.
- Research your potential clients. Browse through their website, stalk their social media, and brainstorm possible points of connection to build trust before you get on a call with them.
- Customize your automations. Even if you use a client relationship management tool like Dubsado, you can still add custom fields to your emails and create personalized client portals to infuse your interactions with a bit of a personal touch.
- Be genuine. When communicating with your clients, make an effort to ask them about things that are going on in their lives. Maybe they’ve just gotten married or launched a new product or service — whatever it is, paying attention goes a long way!
The bottom line is — nothing beats feeling that someone genuinely cares about you.
This is how successful client relationships start.
2. Have a Good Communication System
How you interact with your clients during your project sets an important foundation for your future relationship.
My biggest tip?
Keep your lines of communication CLEAR and SIMPLE.
You don’t want to be using a million different apps, five project management systems, phone calls, and email to communicate about timelines, share deliverables, and exchange feedback.
Everyone’s calendars are already busy, and you want working with you to fit as ORGANICALLY as possible into your clients’ everyday lives.
So, create an easy-to-follow communication system and stick to it.
The way you organize your client communication has to work for both of you, but when you’re creating it. try to consider your client’s point of view. What would be the clearest, easiest way to communicate for THEM?
Don’t make them sign up for yet another app or learn how to use a complicated platform.
Instead, keep it straightforward.
It may not feel as ✨fancy✨, but your clients will thank you.
3. Elevate Your Client Experience
As we’ve established before, people love to feel special….
…and one of the best ways to make your clients feel special is to show your appreciation for them.
Not sure where to start?
Here are three great ways to make your customer service more memorable.
- Client gifts. It’s always fun to celebrate a new beginning with a small onboarding gift to show your client how excited you are about starting to work together. Something as simple as a gift box from Amazon can work, or, if you want something more high-touch, explore gifting companies like BOXFOX.
- Handwritten notes. Sending mail is not dead. You can mail a card after a discovery call or during onboarding, depending on your process, for a bit of a personal touch. There are actually companies who’ll do it for you, like Handwrytten.
- Setting up automations. You don’t want to let your potential customers or clients hang in there waiting for your response…but getting back to each individual client right away manually means being glued to your screen 24/7, which is NOT a productive way to spend your day. Platforms like Dubsado are great for putting automated communication in place for important touch points.
This is, by any means, NOT the extent of how you can show appreciation for your clients — so, get creative!
Write out all the steps of your client experience and brainstorm which ones you can sprinkle with a little bit more of a special touch.
4. Think About What Happens After the Project Is Done
Wondering how to stay connected with clients even after you’re done working together?
Have a clear, intentional workflow for keeping in touch – meaningfully.
To bring in repeat business, what you do AFTER the project is done is as important as what you do during. Here are some ideas:
- Discounts and referral rewards. This is a great way to keep your post clients engaged with your brand AND bring new business in — who doesn’t like a win-win? Let your clients know that they can expect a certain discount when they come back for a new project as well as commit to giving them a referral reward if they send a new client your way.
- Birthday cards. Ask your clients when their birthday is on one of your offboarding forms, add it to your project management tool or calendar, and set a reminder to wish them a happy birthday every year with a personalized card.
- Checking in. Simply having genuine conversations with your past clients from time to time goes a long way. Slide into their DMs, forward them something funny, comment on their posts…basically, just stay friendly!
Don’t just keep these post-project workflows in your brain — write them down or add them to your project management system to stay on track.
5. Invest in Quality Copywriting
Want to know how to better connect with your potential clients?
It’s not bombarding them with a ton of marketing campaigns…
…it’s high-quality, empathy-driven copywriting.
Copywriting is the art and science of writing persuasive messaging to connect with your audience and inspire them to take action.
How does copywriting help you build better connections with your potential clients?
Good copywriting gets under people’s skin.
It makes them feel that you understand their pain points, desires, hopes, fears, and dreams — and there’s no better way to form genuine connections with people than showing them that you GET THEM.
Having great copy on your website or sales page can make your leads feel connected to you BEFORE they even get on a call with you — which boosts your chances of a sale.
So, make sure that quality copywriting is top of your list 😎
Words Are Not Your Thing?
Crafting compelling, conversion-driven copy doesn’t only take LONG hours of your time — it also requires high-level skills and lots of research.
Want to upgrade your copy but are not much of a copywriter yourself?
Slade Copy House crafts copy that makes a difference for brands that do the same.
