When Mother’s Day or Mom’s birthday comes up on the calendar, you dutifully make sure you set aside a little time to call her, send her a card, take her out to dinner, or find some personal way to share your love for her on her special day. Now, what if you shared your love with Mom only on her special days and the rest of the year you only bothered to contact her when you needed something? How would your mom really feel about you if you took her for granted like that – especially if you had a sibling who was there for her practically whenever she desired? Do you think your sibling would be in a better position than you when Mom draws up her last will and testament? Totally!

 

Mom’s not the only one who hates to be patronized and taken for granted. Your clients hate feeling unappreciated too. And just like your mom, clients tend to hide that resentment. It’s up to you to police yourself and make sure you do everything you can to help them become aware of how much your value them. A Stanford University study found that over 70% of client defections can de directly tied to the client’s assumption that the current supplier doesn’t really care if they keep the client’s business or not. What are your clients to assume from the way you treat them?

 

Now, just like with Mom, you can make excuses and tell yourself (and anyone else who will listen) that you’re just too busy to stay in regular touch with your clients to keep sharing your appreciation. You can also fool yourself in to believing your dedication to providing good customer service will be enough to communicate your appreciation to clients. Do NOT make this mistake. 

 

Sure, bad customer service will eventually cause you to lose clients, but good customer service – delivering on all your promises – is not enough to keep your client relationships healthy. Why not? Competitors; your best clients are your competitors top prospects. Since your competitors are in what I call prey-drive (the desire to chase, capture and conquer), they seem to always find the all time they need to nurture a relationship with your valued client. They’re sharing “the love” with your client while you’re silently, almost invisibly, being the good soldier - providing everything you promised when you got the client’s order in the first place. Your lack of communication leaves you vulnerable to the advances of your competitors on your clients. That has to change!

 

Ok, so I get that you’re really busy and that you might not be able see right now how you’ll ever find a way to stay in touch with all your clients enough to insulate your business relationships from all those advances by your competitors. Take heart.  There is an easy-to-use system available today to help you communicate better with more customers and prospects than you ever thought possible – personally and automatically. I’ve seen this technology work wonders for my clients. Now they regularly share their love and appreciation with their valued clients. They automatically ask for referrals. They up-sell and cross-sell more products and services, and their competitors are frustrated more by their failed advances. It works!

 

One more thing; have you ever notice how much your mom loves it when you unexpectedly share your love and appreciation for her? It resonates so much more when your expressions of caring just come out of the blue. The same is true in business. My advice to you is to get a client communication system together – your own or an automated one like I supply. Start communicating better and before you know it, you’ll be selling better than ever AND your mom will be very proud of you!