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Solid business relationships need care overlap

This article on the theme of the relationship between clients and suppliers offers tips on how to build strong, long term relationships with clients – relationships that span multiple individual projects and contribute to business success. The recommendations include choosing the right person for negotiations with the client, the principles and importance of communication, including crisis communication, and an active approach even after the project is finished, which is important for the success of future cooperation.

The key to success is building relationships that go beyond one-time projects and provide value to your clients on a long-term, stable basis. Here are some tips for a successful journey throughout the entire project and maintaining the connection with your business partner once the project is done.

The right person in the right place

Make regular communication with your customer one of your top priorities. Choose someone from your team who would be the best partner for your important client. If you feel the chemistry isn’t working well, don’t be afraid to change the responsible person at the beginning of the process. During long term and/or complicated projects, it’s not uncommon to have a number of tough and highly stressful moments where the chemistry between the two sides could be the only thing that prevents a crisis from developing and help both sides move through it. Personal characteristics are as important as professional experience.

Communication

The more value you offer, the more a client will come to trust you. Don’t hesitate to share information, but choose carefully and think twice about what form to provide it in. Learn your client’s “language” and use it for structured communication with them. Be honest, clear, straightforward, and not too complicated. Your client doesn’t care about your complex and confusing internal processes. After every significant communication, summarize what you’ve done and what steps you can both expect to take place. In this way, you avoid any unwelcome surprises. Clients don’t like (bad) surprises!

And don’t forget: every contact with your client leaves a positive or a negative mark on your reputation! 

Crisis communication

When there is a problem on the client’s side that is in any way connected to you, it’s your problem. You are the first one they will call and the last one who will be commended for your service. Be ready for it, be patient, calm, relaxed (but not too relaxed) and try to get as much as information as possible regarding the issue. Take your time to confirm all information and aspects from all sides - yours, the client’s, and the third party’s. Try to come up with some reasonable solutions. Clients hire us to help them solve problems. The more problems we can help them solve, the better.

After marketing

The deal is done, everything is set and successfully managed. Don’t make your dear client think they’ve fallen off your radar. The client is very sensitive and doesn’t want to feel you only like them for their business. And they will definitely show their appreciation with enthusiastic cooperation again in the future.

Author: Ing. Štěpán Smrčka, Sales Manager, PASSERINVEST GROUP, a.s.