Trying to maintain healthy relationships in our personal lives has been a key focus in the last year. Some have been tested and some have flourished. And the same can be said for professional relationships too.
But what has the power to make or break a relationship when it comes to you and your clients?
It’s all a question of commitment. To maintain and grow client revenues, agencies should match what they expect to gain with what they are prepared to give. Authentic, mutual commitment is the glue that bonds agencies with their clients.
As in our personal lives, having relationships doesn’t guarantee successful ones. They take work and now more than ever. Good times in the past won’t mean business in the future. Clients may have played it safe during 2020, with little switching, but they’ve now seen new agencies and ideas, found better ways of getting things done and changed the standards they expect.
So, when it comes to your business, ask yourself how committed you really are. And what real commitment means for your business and how you work with your clients.
Real commitment starts with transparency, which underpins all good relationships. Being real, showing who you really are across your proposition, personality, people, processes, pricing. It demands a genuine willingness to actually invest in your clients; always going above and beyond and choosing or even recruiting a team better matched to the needs of your clients. Finally, taking a long-term view and setting the foundations so that your relationships grow in line with the growth of your business and theirs. Create a joint vision of where you and your client want to be in three years’ time. It may be hard to do, but don’t fall into the trap of only focusing on a few months ahead.
You can read about overcoming commitment issues and more in our Future Positive Clients guide.