Do you know the goals of your clients? You should if you want to have a great strategy to achieve them. Clients want and expect you to be as enthusiastic about their business goals as they are, and collaborating with your client to develop a strategy to achieve their short and long term goals sets the tone for a long lasting relationship.
Let’s discuss goals and its role in developing strategy. Don’t assume what their goal is, ask! Developing goals consists of looking at a few factors:
- Is their goal realistic?
- Is it measurable?
- What timeline do they expect to achieve this goal?
Once long and short term goals are set, you can move forward to develop strategy to achieve them.
Generating strategies are like steps on a staircase that build upon one another. Clients need and want transparency so include your client in the actual strategy discussions so they have an understanding of what goals you have and how you are going to achieve them.
Strategy calls with clients are best as the new month begins. Be sure to give them times that are good for them so you both can focus on the task at hand. Discuss what their goals are in depth–is it branding? Is it more sales? You can outline a basic strategy during the call but you should document after the call any and all ideas your internal teams had as well. Once the strategy is mapped out, set expectations for implementation and reporting on results.
Creating a calendar for action items will help hold you and your client accountable to complete tasks required to achieve the goals set. Clients that feel you understand their goals and have the same desire to increase their success are the clients that will continue the relationship with you and your company!
Client retention is a vital part of account management. Partnering with your clients and adding your passion to help them to achieve their goals will help nurture a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship.
About the Author
Lisa Grande is passionate about her clients and educating the team to best serve their clients.