Things To Avoid Saying New Clients
The key to any successful relationship is effective communication. It doesn’t matter whether you’re going on a date or for a job interview or meeting with a potential client. How you present yourself in that first couple of minutes is absolutely condemnatory. What you think while having the first conversation with new clients is not as important, what matters is what they hear.
Every new client wants a person on the other end of the line to be helpful, to get to the root of the problems fast and provide them a better solution even faster. The way you present yourself in front of your clients can heavily influence their attitude and respect towards you. If you present yourself in a great manner and avoid talking yourself into a trap, it’s not too difficult to maintain a healthy relationship with any new client of yours.
So, to help you avoid ruining client relationships, we have compiled some tips to strengthen the most important aspect of your business: the relationships you have with your clients.
Mangling Client’s and Company Name
Nothing frustrates people more than hearing their name pronounced incorrectly or being called with another name completely. The client will perceive it as your carelessness. Not only is the pronunciation of his name important, but his company name is also equally important to him. Know how to spell and pronounce the company name of all your clients and pay close attention to the capitalization and spelling. Do your research in advance and know all the names of the people and their company’s names you’ll be working with correctly.
Asking about company details
The question “What does your company do” indicates that you haven’t prepared in advance. For a good establishment of relationships with your clients you need to ask appropriate questions and not the ones that show your inattentiveness towards your clients. However such type of questions indicates that you have not done any advance preparation and can lead a very bad impression on your client. Clients want vendors who are prepared instead of asking this say “From my research, I understand you do financial consulting or this” Tell me more. This will show your positive working attitude and will make your client take you seriously.
Showing unnecessarily Desperation for work
Don’t ever try to sound like a despot. If you tell a client that you really need more work from them or you really need the project they are probably going to exploit the fact and chances are high that you’ll end up at the wrong end of a bad project. It’s true, everyone wants to get a big deal but it’s usually better not to show your desperation to your clients and prospects. This shows the client that your business is unstable. Nothing gets customers running to the competition like a vendor who is financially unstable. Instead you should say “Delivering on your every need is our top priority”.
Forcing your choices onto them
Even if you are the foremost expert in your field with a thousand great referrals, you should never forcibly tell a client what they want. It’s rude, it’s blunt and it is abrasive. You need to provide the clients with what they want. Instead of telling them they can’t have it their way, try to offer a new suggestion along with the reason why you think its better. Listen to the client’s needs, wants and concerns and if they seem to be heading down the wrong path, work with them to suggest a better way or procedure. Propose an additional touch to consider, but present it with a light touch, don’t remind people about why they hired you, you are the best; this is surely not a good business practice at all.
Badmouthing about competitors
No matter what you think about your competitors never ever badmouth about them in front of your client because eventually, you won’t come off well. Don’t refer your competitors as “rip off merchants” or worse, there must be some reason why your clients have chosen them and why they are involved with the current vendor or dealer or anyone who is your competitor. Respect your client’s decision and support them to stand out well, as if word gets out that you’re badmouthing everyone else to secure your client, you’re putting your reputation in danger.
Comparing the client with previous client
By comparing your clients with someone else you know can disrespect your client’s concerns or questions and it is not only the end, most of the business people start telling some crappy stories about their previous clients to their current clients and it is highly possible your current client will even get offended at something you say if he or she agrees with your previous client. This tendency of comparing your clients with others and telling them some horror stories about your previous clients only serves to make other people nervous and clients will think you’re trying to dismiss their issues so rather, tell them you can help them with their concerns or questions.
Sorry…. but it’s not my fault
Even if a client is at fault for a project getting derailed, don’t throw blame around. Laying blame on other people won’t get you anywhere, saying the client that something that went wrong is not your or your company’s fault will display your irresponsibility. The quickest and easiest way to deal with unhappy clients is to fix their problems. Owning up to the faults is essential and looking for fixes will show your responsibility or to simply inform them that what’s done is done and on the next project you can both move things along faster. It helps to retain the respect that the client has on you and your firm.
I don’t know the solution
Like you should never tell a client that you can do everything, you should also never flatly tell them you can’t do something to deal with their problem. If a client is asking for something you are not sure about never throw a direct NO to their faces instead of always try to under-promise and over-deliver. Or if you feel that someone else is perfect to handle the particular problem, ask them firmly if they would like to involve someone else as your motive is to serve the best to them. Just be patient and courteous with your responses no matter how ludicrous the request.
I can deliver you as soon as you want
Never set yourself up for this trap. As soon as you present yourself overly excited and say something like this that you’ll deliver the project even before the client needs, you’re creating a dig for you. This will not only make your clients set a ridiculously aggressive timeline for you but they will expect you to work more at that pace 100% of the time. To stand out onto their expectations, better to give them a realistic time frame to complete the project even if it’s way too long. Not only it will help you to remain balanced but you’ll have a scope to finish the work ahead of schedule. Sticking to your principles always ensures a much better client relationship over the long run.
Never quote a range of rates
When you and your client discuss rates or deadlines, do not give them a minimum and maximum range of rates to let them choose for you. This shows clients that you’re not confident about your services and that’s not good. This will create great disappointment for both you and the client. In some rare instances, it can work but in most cases, it is better to offer a fixed price and stick with it. This assures clients that you’re confident in what you’re offering and you’ll be more respected because of it.
For a healthy client relationship, Communication is a prime key of all. It is highly recommended that one should control the slip-ups while communicating with a client. Remember, it is very easy to lose a client due to any kind of miscommunication but relatively difficult to maintain the relationships by communicating well and appropriately. Hence, to retain clients and their trust make sure you aware about these mentioned things.
Remember, “Your relationship with the client is worth more than the product or service being sold to the client”.
