A bird in the hand...

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.

This has never been truer than when it comes to repeat customers.

Did you know that it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one?

Not all customers are equal

We’ve established that retaining clients and encouraging repeat custom is a good thing to do. However, that doesn’t apply to ALL clients. We’ve all had that nightmare customer that has taken up lots of our time and caused us problems. Whilst we all want customers and clients; we don’t want nightmare clients!

Find your valuable clients and customers and make the most of them. Start by evaluating your past, present and future clients. If you evaluate each client against the same criteria, you will understand their true lifetime value to you and your business.?

It’s important to identify what makes a good client and what makes a really great client.

The client you want to attract, work with and retain will be different for everyone. There are certain criteria I use when deciding to work with someone. In my experience, the more aligned they are with my criteria, the more rewarding, joyful and natural the relationship will be.

For example, regular check-ins help me to evaluate what we are doing, and whether it is working. And ensures that I will retain them as a client. It also helps me get to know them on a deeper, more personal level, and gives me an understanding of how to strengthen and grow our relationship.

Just as your potential client is weighing up whether to work with you, you need to be doing the same. I understand that it can be tempting to work with anyone, especially if you need more income. But believe me, even though it may bring much-needed cash into your business, it will prove to be hard-earned.

Weigh it up

Once you have started working together, it is important to reflect on how the relationship is going and then review it again at the end. The questions I ask myself to understand whether or not the working relationship is a winner for us both are:

• Was I able to solve their problem?
• Did they get the results they wanted?
• Were they open, willing and keen to engage in every part of our work together?
• Were they easy to work with, i.e., did they keep changing arrangements?
• Did they bring me joy/make me feel happy to work with them?
• Were they reliable and did they settle invoices on time?
• What was the cost in terms of my time and what did I need to invest in the project?
• Is what they’re paying covering all parts of my business from a time, marketing and sales perspective?
• Does this client provide high-quality referrals, or have the potential to?
• These are just a few examples of questions you can ask yourself to evaluate your client relationships.

What are your criteria for a brilliant customer?

We will be "Live" brainstorming this over in my Facebook group, in our weekly Business Bonanza at 13:30-14:00 GMT Today, so if you are a Female Entrepreneur why not check us out -?Keep it Simple Sales (KiSS)