Do You have Customers or Clients?

Customers are people that come to your business and purchase your product or service once or maybe twice. Attracting customers is expensive. It often requires an expenditure of your time and money as you slave at your computer designing advertising campaigns that may or may not work. You also design coupons and offer free samples or products to draw new customers. You spend countless hours finding unique ways to brand your business in order to attract new customers.

Clients are your loyal customers. They return to purchase your product or service without you having to spend a great deal of time or money enticing them to return.

It makes good business sense to convert your customers into clients. This may take some time and money at first but in the long run it will be a great investment. You want to establish rapport with your customers. Upon meeting a prospective client at a networking event, through an introduction, or the first purchase you want to take time to express gratitude. Send the person a handwritten note or email expressing that you are pleased to make their acquaintance. Do not attempt to sell the person anything. Think of the stages of a friendship. You begin will small talk and gradually move on to deeper topics. The same process is used to develop a client relationship. You invite the person to join your newsletter campaign. You being to introduce the person to your business by sharing an article that you have written that the person might find beneficial. Continue to build rapport. You can ask the person to join you on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media places.

If the person has already become a customer you will want to add value to the service or products you are providing. Make the person fall in love with you and see you as the expert. Have you ever heard of a baker’s dozen? A baker’s dozen is 13. This practice started a long time ago. Local bakers wanted to have repeat customers so they included one extra item in the bag so that the person felt special. By giving the customer one extra cookie or pastry it guaranteed that the person would become a client. Who doesn’t like getting something free?

Clients save you money. If you have loyal clients you will not need to spend large sums of money on advertising. You can tell your clients about upcoming specials by announcing them in your newsletter.  Using an auto-responder will allow you send a very personalized email to everyone in your client email account. There are also various places that will send out greeting cards for you too. Using a Virtual Assistant can also be a great resource to help you on converting customers to clients. Initially, it may take a few dollars to turn a customer into a client but in the long run it will be a great investment.

Clients are also a great source of word of mouth advertising. Women particularly love to have what their friends have so they will want to go to the same establishments that their friends patronize. Remember, people do business with those they know, like, and trust.

If your customers treat you disrespectfully by arriving late for appointments, not showing up for appointments, or canceling appointments at the last minute it is time for some self reflection. You may want to solicit feedback from your customers to find out why they are not becoming clients or why they are not loyal to you. Ask yourself honestly if you are providing value to the customer. What are you providing that they are not getting from someone selling the same product or service? If the answer is nothing think about what you can do to begin to offer value. Do you make them feel special by remembering their name? Do you offer them something extra for free? Is your establishment clean? Are you presenting the correct image to your customers and clients?

When you take time to know your customers and establish rapport they will become clients. Clients will give you peace of mind that you are doing things right and you will not have to spend endless amounts of money on advertising. Cultivating relationships with your clients can be no cost when you employ social media and computer technology.

Remember to take time to develop rapport and add value when conducting business so you that you will convert your customers into clients.