Most of us have come up against this situation at some time. Once a client has moved something off their plate to yours, their ownership of the problem / task / situation ceases. Sound familiar? I’ll share with you 4 simple strategies that you can use to maintain and grow your client relationships.

Paying you for your services seems to absolve them of any ownership of any problem that may arise, after all, that’s what you’re there for, isn’t it! Keeping your client accountable for their actions is important.

1. Set Out The Responsibilities Early and Clearly

  • Set your client clear goals early
  • Establish their responsibility
  • Define the steps needed by both parties
  • Frequent communication and updates

2. Break It Down and Keep It Simple

  • Break down the goal into smaller steps
  • Have a clear written assessment of the clients expected results
  • Outline who is responsible for each step in the grand plan.

Keeping things simple actually, makes for improved and efficient productivity and becomes the key driver for you and will ultimately lead to improved performance.

3. Maximise Your Effectiveness

You can do this a number of ways:

  • Daily communications
  • Reporting
  • Your to-do list
  • Process
  • Decision making

By keeping it simple, you won’t set yourself up to fail but you will always set yourself up for the win.

4. Talk to Your Clients Regularly

It’s easy to avoid this, confrontation is something we all try to avoid. If you have a client who stresses you out, talking with them regularly is something you want to avoid after a while. If things are going along fine without any discussion, don’t assume it’s okay.

There could be so many more things you can help a client with by asking them this question. “Is there anything you need help with?” It’s a given, there will be something that you can do to continue to bolster your relationship.

  • Put regular times in their diary, in advance
  • You can meet in person, on Skype, a conference call, on the phone
  • Depending on your line of work, weekly or monthly is fine
  • Keep them; they are just as important as any other time in your diary – continually cancelling or moving meetings, shows you don’t hold any importance for the conversation
  • Have an agenda for your meetings, nothing worse than a meeting that has no point
  • You are improving the level of service that you provide to your client

There is a side effect to the regular catch up, and that is, you may gain referrals or leads. There is a whole upside of potential that is available for both you and your clients when you talk regularly.

Your Next Steps

If you’re curious about working with an online business manager who can help you take your business to the next level and give you your life back. We should have a little chat.

What do you think about keeping your clients accountable? Feel free to share what you’ve done in the comment section below.