Building and Maintaining Client Relationships
Austin, Texas (PRWEB) July 30, 2013 -- It is often said that building a successful business begins with first building successful relationships with your customers. As business owners and leaders, it’s understood that you must deliver on superior customer service, product innovation and quality products all while anticipating what the customer will need. Above all, businesses are built on relationships, and once those relationships secured, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Right?
Vera Fischer, president of 97 Degrees West, says this is not always the case. “It’s crucial to remember that no matter how strong of a relationship you’ve built with a client, there’s always the possibility that their pre-existing relationships will usurp the hard work you’ve done,” she says. “And most of the time, you won’t even know that that former relationship exists.”
This became painfully clear when eTrade’s new CMO, Liza Landsman, announced the company’s new agency of record, Ogilvy & Mather. This came as a surprise given that Landsman had announced an agency review just three weeks earlier. While all of the shops being reviewed were extremely talented, the listed reason to choose Ogilvy? “…she decided to halt the search and go with Ogilvy based on prior experience with the agency from her days at Blackrock.”
Should you find yourself losing a client to a pre-existing relationship, Fischer provides some insight on how to best handle the situation. Here are five things to remember and be aware of when the relationship you’ve worked so hard to foster gets handed to a pre-relationship company:
1. Proceed with grace. The decision has been made. Nothing you can do will change the outcome. Accept it gracefully.
2. Remember that it’s not your fault or your team’s fault. Actually it’s no ones fault. It’s just the course of people and business.
3. Avoid having your team “check out” as the account dwindles down. No matter how long you’ve worked with this company or all of the good you’ve done for them, all they will remember is the last few months. This is no time for passive aggressive behavior. Make the transition as smooth as possible.
4. Call the key stakeholders of the company and thank them for the business they entrusted you with. The surprise in their voice when they realize you haven’t called to complain will be evident and they will remember you always as the consummate professional.
5. At the end of the account transition, write a personal, hand-written note to each contact within the account. Thank them again for the experience and let them know you are available to assist in the future. Send it snail mail.
Then wait. You never know when you’ll have the chance to be the pre-existing relationship. Your effort will show up as a referral, a quick project or possibly something bigger.
About 97º West
Proudly based in Austin, Texas, 97 Degrees West is a fiercely independent agency, not only in ownership structure but, more importantly, from the conventional wisdom and practices of the marketing industry. They have depth and expertise in all the traditional areas -- interactive, account service, strategic planning and creative execution -- yet don’t confine themselves to these boxes. The agency’s strengths lie in its ability to identify a company’s core values and develop clear, precise branding and positioning that have a creative voice and speak to the truth of the brand. 97 Degrees West is a HUB certified agency.
Vera Fischer, 97 Degrees West, http://www.97dwest.com, 512-473-2500 212, [email protected]
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