First impressions often get all the attention, but how you show up daily in your business solidifies your reputation. As a small business, being intentional with your actions is essential—your success depends on it. Use these strategies and best practices to make the right impression every time with every client. When you create an outstanding client experience, you can be confident that your company will earn a winning reputation and many clients.
1. Establish a Digital Presence
Stake a claim in the digital arena for your business across all channels, even if you’re short on time. Purchase relevant domain names, claim profile names, and insert your brand consistently online.
If you don’t have a robust brand package, don’t worry; devise a simple brand package and logo for now. Choose three colors and a logo, and draft a core copy that describes what you do, who you serve, and why. Build a simple website to reinforce your analog efforts and serve as your online stand-in.
Link social media pages and additional web domains back to your main page to drive traffic to the core. This works great to bring potential clients to your inquiry page, centralizing client acquisition.
2. Streamline Transactions and Invoicing
Clients appreciate convenience, but small businesses may not always have the resources to offer multiple payment choices. However, accounting software can help streamline financial management, save time, and provide a top-tier client experience.
Issue professional, easy-to-read invoices digitally, offer a range of payment options, and automate reminders to align with your client agreements. Doing so requires less of your time, meaning you can focus on helping your clients achieve their goals.
Use your accounting software to track projects and their payment terms, offering visibility for your team and the client. A landscaping company might issue an invoice for 40% of the project upon design acceptance. Track its payment to ensure the project stays on time and so your team can purchase supplies for the job.
3. Design an Engaging Client Experience
Before you meet with a client, devise an ideal client experience. Walk through the steps a client may take to meet with you and share their needs. Next, determine how you want them to feel during your initial meeting and how you can best showcase your offer.
If you work in marketing, listen closely to your potential clients’ supposed problems. Take notes and listen to what’s left unsaid—a client may not yet realize other factors influencing their challenges. Get to know them and identify their work style, communication preferences, and expectations.
Then, let them know how your team can help them achieve their goals and your collaboration methods. Offer examples of other, similar work, your typical work plan, timelines, and how you report progress. Keep this more open in nature and ask for their input and preferences. Get them engaged in the process, and they’ll get invested in their client experience plan. This gets you two steps ahead and improves your likelihood of meeting their expectations.
4. Prioritize High-Quality Deliverables
Now that your plan is aligned with your operations, you can deliver on it every time. Use project management software to mirror your client quotes and projects that you’ve committed to. Build in time for project planning, rework, and reviews to protect your team’s timelines.
Create standard operating procedures to solidify processes and achieve consistency for your work, effectiveness, and client satisfaction. Hold your team accountable for using these procedures and maintaining focus on your client’s goals.
Deliver work early whenever possible, but don’t sacrifice quality to beat the deadline. Be a partner your client can depend on; you’ll build trust and unlock opportunities for more work. When you do, you’ll offer much-needed breathing room for your client, providing consistency amongst uncertainty.
5. Include Insights and Opportunities to Build Their Business
There’s more than just tactics to deliver for your clients. To make a good impression, strive to serve as a partner in their success. Provide actionable insights and analysis that relate to your deliverables.
If you’ve crafted a marketing plan for a new restaurant, include a market analysis that you’re uniquely suited to offer. Share your prior success rate with similar marketing plans and the lessons learned from prior campaigns. Provide testimonials, examples, and current market data to reinforce your end product, all of which elevate the value you provide.
These additional insights are meant to support your clients’ goals but can also represent potential new work. Clarify if your insights are actionable tactics you can help support, doing so in a consultative, helpful manner. Provide clients with a view of what’s possible, how you can help, and clarity on how they can get there.
Happy Clients Are the Best Marketers
When you surprise and delight your clients, there’s no telling how far the word will spread. Just as a poor reputation infiltrates the market, so does a great one. Treat every client interaction as a brand- and trust-building opportunity. Incorporate these client service best practices into your culture and hold your team accountable for upholding them.
Take care of your clients, deliver on your promises, and make doing business with your company the highlight of their week. Help your clients achieve their dreams, and you’ll be that much closer to realizing your own.
Photo by Cytonn Photography; Unsplash