Clients! Without them there would be no headaches, no demands, no issues, and no revenue coming into the business! How many times do I hear it in the halls of small business during my travels in the market today? “Those clients seem to get in the way of our running our business” stated one business owner that I spoke with recently.
Your client base is your financial lifeline; you do not require a business degree to understand this concept. Without them you would not have a business, sounds like a simple and easy to understand concept. Yet, still in many businesses I hear employees discuss how clients call at the worst possible time and if I had no clients to take care of I would have lots of time to get things done around the office. Sorry to bust the bubble here, without those clients, there would be no office to get things done in.
I am sure the majority of small business owners understand the need to ensure clients come first. I hear the discussion from time to time that our staff’s need to come first over the needs of a client. I personally find that thinking just a bit backwards. It is important to ensure that your staffing needs are taken care of and that you create a workplace where creativity and morale flow at the highest levels. Without a great team, you can’t service your clients. However, without clients there is no business, no creativity required, no moral issues to worry about. The client’s needs must be addressed first.
Clients are hungry for a service provider that understands their needs. Many small business are too busy to worry about the technology, they want a service provider to provide that valuable guidance to them. This way of putting the needs of your client first is critically important for your overall business success. When you fail to put the client first, they quickly become customers or go somewhere where they are treated like clients. When they become a customer, they are calling you when things breakdown, when they need a new PC, when the service renewals come in for their antivirus or firewall solutions.
When your business has a client focus and the needs of the client are first, then you are approaching clients when warranties are up for renewal, when you see a need to replace older hardware, having everything ready to go for that new hire at your clients. You are being proactive in addressing their needs and they think of your business as the Superman of the computer industry.
What’s the major difference between a client and customer? The trend I am hearing in the small business technology community is the overuse of the word customer. Customer is a word that does not sit well with me. Do you really want a business full of customers? To better understand that question, I need to provide you with my definition of the word customer, a customer is someone who purchases from my business when it suits them, no regular schedule, usually I need to compete on price and there is no real relationship formed. I am a customer to the big box stores in Canada today. A client is someone where I have a relationship with, we work together to determine a schedule for proactive service, we maintain that regular service no matter what. We are open to approach our clients with ideas to better enhance their business. I have a client relationship with my financial planner and lawyer for example. They provide me with advice that is in my best interest, their fees usually are not important as the service I receive from them.
“We have found that good Clients understand the value of our relationship and the services we provide, and proactively work together with us to build a close business partnership. Customers, on the other hand, are more interested in price, and because of this focus, make it extremely difficult for us to build a true business partnership based on mutual respect and value. We believe that the biggest downside to having Customers is the time they rob you of spending with your “A” Clients. We now promote hiring Clients and firing Customers” states Erick Simpson of Garden Grove, California’s Intelligent Enterprise, a leader in the managed services market in Southern California.
Where are you spending your time in your business? Are you dealing with customers or on your staff’s perception on how business needs to be treated? Or are you putting your client’s needs first, making them priority number one. When you place the needs of your clients in the spotlight, your business will grow, revenues will increase, you will become a business leader in your community and most importantly you will develop the reputation of providing the best service in your small business market, making you the IT Superman.
Leave no stone unturned at your clients; they are expecting that level of service!
Stuart Crawford is the Director of Business Development for IT Matters Inc., Calgary, Alberta’s award winning Microsoft Small Business Specialist. He can be reached at scrawford@itmatters.ca or via their website http://www.itmatters.ca Stuart just released his second book
for the Small Business IT industry entitled “Do you have IT? Get it online today at http://www.doyouhaveitbook.com Stuart is also putting together a marketing group for IT Professionals that is free to join, email him today for more information.
Tags: buying, Clients, consulting, creativity, customers, moral, relationships, sales, trusted advisor
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