Business strategy: the key to happy clients

14/06/2022

Without clients, you don’t have a business. So, winning and keeping clients happy should be your top priority.

As the saying dictates, ‘if you don’t appreciate your clients someone else will’, so make sure you keep up with their demands.

As covered in our first blog in the series, you should be familiar with where your business is now, along with where you want to be.

As for how to get there, your client base will play a critical role in achieving your objectives.

Who are your clients?

The type of business that you want to run will influence who your target customers are, which then shapes your business’s operations.

In five years, you may envisage your business to have tripled its turnover and scaled up. To do this, you need to focus on who your clients will be and how you will meet their needs.

In your original business plan, you should have outlined who your target market is. However, this could change depending on whether you are expanding the services you offer.

You must have a coherent idea of what your clients expect from you, along with how you will not only meet these expectations, but exceed them.

To ensure you do this, researching your competitors and what they offer is key here.

How can you build loyalty?

As your research should show, your competitors will provide similar services to you – unless your business is in a very niche sector. So, why should clients choose you?

You must make your business stand out, and whilst the service you offer plays a large role, clients also place a big emphasis on the people they buy from.

Firstly, consider your team. Employees must have the necessary training to ensure they maintain positive client relationships and can communicate effectively.

Employee retention also plays a part in this. Especially if you offer advisory services, it is important to have a sense of familiarity, which can be gained by having consistent members of staff to assist them.

You should also factor in the sector that you are in and the way that your client base operates. In the case that your business is structured around subscription services, you must maintain a level of service to make sure clients don’t leave you.

However, in a retail business, you need to fight more to gain and maintain clients, as loyalty is not inherent in this industry.

Should you expand your client base?

Whilst expanding your client base can bring in more revenue, you must not jeopardise the quality of client relationships, as this could reduce client retention.

Therefore, should you wish to take on more clients, you should consider whether you can do so.

To maintain your client experience, you may need to take on more members of staff, accompanied by the cost of hiring, training, and more equipment.

Alternatively, you could begin to offer additional services that appeal to your existing clients. With this option, your revenue will still increase but the level of familiarity with clients remains consistent.

Another option is to charge your existing clients more. In the case that your services are worth more than the current rate you charge, you can increase this to reflect the quality of your work.

With this, you must consider what your competitors offer, in terms of prices and services, compared to the quality of your services, which should inform of the available scope to increase prices.

In our next blog, we will focus on how to elevate your team.

Need advice on your business strategy? Contact us.