How to Completely Book out Your Services + Keep your Clients Happy
Growing up my father owned a small chain of cobbler shops in South Africa that provided shoe-fixing services, engraving, locksmithing and they even sold trophies. You might be wondering what on earth this has to do with the online business world and getting clients but I learned so very much from my dad in the way that he treated people in his business every single day.
Often someone would come into the store locked out of their car and he’d “break in” for them free of charge, someone would be looking to the most random thing for a shoe or handbag and he’d drive across town to source it and when he one of his employees messed up an engraving job, he’d find and purchase a new product just to keep the customer happy.
The point I’m trying to make here is that if you want your business to grow and flourish, you need to really work on the relationships you have with your current clients. I find that there’s a lot of talk about how to get clients but no one really focuses on how to keep them.
What’s more, is that by making your current client or clients so incredibly happy with your service, they’re bound to want to tell everyone and their mother about you 😝 which is where you’re going to an overflow of new businesses wanting to hire you.
How To Make Your Clients Happy
Communicate with them
I always make sure to hop on a call to make that personal connection with them. Working in this digital world means real connections are hard to come by so this initial “face-to-face” experience sets a good foundation for the relationship.
I also makes sure to communicate regularly, notify my clients what I’m working on and celebrate small achievements by sending them a quick email every now and then. I email daily in the first week of work to notify how their account is progressing and I take time to educate them on the why behind what I’m doing to build lots of trust so that later on I don’t have to.
Ask for their Opinion
Finding out what they like and want from working with you is so important! Yes, you’re the expert but you’re representing their business. I always design some initial pin images and ask for their honest opinions and changes that they want to be made right from the beginning.
This means I’ll better understand what they like and by being open to their perspective they feel valued. They won’t have to send that dreaded email a few weeks in saying that all the designs are completely wrong - I’ve taken off the pressure from the beginning.
Go The Extra Mile
All of the content I read today sort of goes against this practice but let me tell you, it’s definitely paid off for me! Yes, you don’t want to be working an extra 10 hours on something you’re not getting paid for and don’t let clients take advantage of you. But designing an extra free-of-charge pin each week or doing a free video training for a client who can no longer afford you makes a big impact. These are the things that make you stand out. These are the things that make your clients tell others about you.
Be Honest
Complete honesty and transparency has gone a long way in my business. I’ve had times where Pinterest and my set of skills didn’t work for a particular business and I had to let them know so they didn’t continue paying for services that weren’t getting results. If someone has asked for certain statistics or data on Pinterest and I didn’t know, I’d be honest instead of trying to make something up. Clients will remember you for this, trust and true connection triumph every time.
I encourage you to take time to focus on the clients you already have, ask them what you could be doing better and how you could be of more service to them. It’s bound to get you some extra bookings from their referrals - and maybe even a raise!
Hello, I’m Megan!
An introvert at heart, Pinterest is the perfect platform for me. Simply posting your content using the right marketing strategies gets you an abundance of website traffic? No engagement or ‘showing up’ needed?
Who wouldn’t want to use this powerhouse of a platform …
