In today's competitive market, building strong relationships with clients is key to the success of any business. However, creating and maintaining those relationships can be time-consuming and challenging, especially for professionals who work one-on-one with clients.
Why is it so challenging? Well, one reason is you are expected to remember everything about every person you work with. For us as dog trainers, it wasn't that bad. We just had to remember the dog's name and excused ourselves from remembering their retirement plans by redirecting our focus back on the dog. Yeah, I know, not great right? The details are important, but they don't matter the most. What matters is that you achieve the results you set out for, your client feels known, and you are always available.
Therin lies the problem though, if we make ourselves available to our clients 24/7, we will burn out like a ballon to a flame. "pop!" The best way to make your self "available but not available" is to make sure you have done everything in your power to make yourself unnecessary. This means giving your clients all the information they need to succeed without you.
When working with clients, their situations are "unique", but that just means a unique blend of common issues. Trainers use templates for follow-up communication, but it still takes time to customize them.
Grahamity allows you to customize these messages in just seconds, but it's not the only thing you should be doing to help gauge your client retention. In addition to sending pertinent follow-up resources, you should also be:
- Asking at each session if it met their expectations. Remember you clients need to feel they are getting results.
- Reminding them that consistency is key, and that they should book another session.
- Pick up just ONE piece of information about the client and write it down next to their name after they leave. During your next session ask about that topic, it should be not too personal, but show an interest. They won't care if you read it before your appointment.
Tracking client engagement and progress is also pretty important. While the ability to see which boxes and resources your clients used has not been implemented yet, you CAN see which boxes were sent during previous sessions. But, you should (and probably are already) keeping notes on your clients success.
By providing a personalized and comprehensive experience, professionals can build stronger relationships with their clients and increase their chances of long-term success. But it's not the only thing you should be doing. Be honest with yourself now. Does your client retention strategy work? Do you even have one?