One of the important things I’ve learned about running a business is that good customer service should extend through the entire life of a project, and is just as important (or even more so) when wrapping things up.
An article on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s web site, SBA.gov, reports that 91% of unhappy customers will never again buy from a company they’re displeased with and (perhaps the most disturbing statistic) they will voice their negative feelings to at least seven other people.
Given the above statistics, it is critical to have a sound exit strategy when ending a project, whether it is a long-term assignment or a short-term gig. This philosophy has helped me consistently grow my professional network throughout the years.
Here are a few of the strategies I employ to ensure clients are happy, not just until the very end of a project, but long after they write me their final check.
Wrapping it up
I always conduct a project wrap-up to ascertain the successes and failures of a given project. This often involves putting together some slides which redefine the original goals of the project, pinpoint major project milestones, and provide feedback and recommendations for how to leverage key learnings. I make it a point to schedule a call for the wrap up so I can review my slides and talk with the client about next steps, if any.
Keeping it open ended
I make every effort to maintain client relationships beyond the life of a given project. For example, I let my clients know that I can be reached any time if they have questions about a project a few months down the road, or if they need my opinion about something they plan to do going forward (even if I won’t be involved for the long-term). Clients really appreciate this accessibility.
Paying it forward
When a past or present client needs something done that I can’t do, for whatever reason, I make it a point to refer them to someone who can do it. My goal is for my clients to walk away with a solution, but that solution doesn’t have to be me. This last piece of advice may seem very counter-intuitive to business expansion, but it really works. Satisfied clients pass along my name to colleagues, and people I’ve referred remember me when they move on to new companies.
Last week I deleted a proverbial “stack” of email from my computer going back as far as 2002. I couldn’t resist reading through my old messages nostalgically, kind of like I do when I rifle through old photos and birthday cards.
I think what surprised me most is that my client roster is entirely different now than it was from 2002 through 2006. Part of that is the nature of my work, which is very event driven. Clients launch campaigns and those campaigns end, so I’m no longer needed. Often clients hire me as a stop gap until they can find a more permanent internal solution. This means a fresh set of new clients on a regular basis, and quite a long list of dusty email messages from people I no longer work with.
As I read through my old client emails, many of which contained long strings of correspondence within the messages, I noticed a pattern. I tend to start off new client relationships very proactively, follow through reasonably well throughout the life of a project, then wrap things up quickly after about three to six months – whether the client is ready to do this or not.
I’m not sure if this is some kind of “startup fever” on my part or it’s just, as I said above, the nature of my work. But regardless of the reason, I have to admit that I love the excitement of winning new work and starting off fresh with new clients. Ironically, this is also one of the most stressful and costly aspects of being self-employed.
As my email plainly demonstrated to me, I’m stuck in an unending cycle of starting new things, only to end them when the paint starts to fade, so that I can devote my time to starting new things once again.
I have a strong suspicion that this isn’t entirely productive. Would it be so bad, after all, to work with the same group of clients for more than a few months to a year at a time? On the contrary, I think it might be very nice to take it down a notch and focus on something other than honing my sales skills. It’s amazing what you can learn from some dusty old email. I’m almost sorry I deleted it all.
Last week I received a copy of a new book titled, I Brake for Meltdowns: How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2- to 5-year-old
by Michelle Nicholasen and Barbara O’Neil.
The book is due out on the shelves on July 15th, so it was kind of neat to get a sneak peak.
I’ll admit I’m a skeptic when it comes to parenting books. I have a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old, so I’d like to think my kids are beyond tantrums. Of course I’m fooling myself.
That was painfully clear today when my husband explained how my 4-year-old had a titanic meltdown in Lowes because her Barbie lost a shoe somewhere in the store. He left without buying anything or going food shopping as he’d planned to do.
But you know, denial is nice assuming one can hang onto it for any length of time. In any case, I’ve been cracking open “I Brake for Meltdowns” more frequently than I’d planned.
Right off the bat, the book set a tone I could relate to. The second paragraph contains (in my humble opinion) the best line in the book. “I think it’s accurate to say that small children sometimes behave as if they are, in fact, crazy.” Amen to that, sista.
The book is laid out categorically with each chapter tackling a different issue (e.g., Meltdowns/Tantrums, Social Graces, Sleep, Eating, etc.) Since my 4-year-old currently refuses to eat anything except chicken nuggets, string cheese, pasta and bologna - I flipped to this chapter first. The advice was sound - don’t give her too many choices, don’t give her a snack if she refuses to eat dinner, serve stuff you know she’ll like.
Truth be told, most of the information is stuff I heard in the past but it was nice to reinforce it. It kind of made me confront the realization that it’s not okay to let her take all her meals of bologna and string cheese on the couch while watching SpongeBob.
Also, while some of the advice just won’t work for my child, that’s ok because every kid is different. For example, there’s no way my child will take a bite out of a cucumber round even if I explain that it will turn into a moon. But I don’t hold this against the authors - my daughter is stubborn as hell when it comes to eating. In fact, I was heartened by the comment included in this section, “Eating, like pooping, is out of our control.” It kind of feels nice to be let off the hook once in a while.
One final note - I liked the index at the back of the book which lists various issues alphabetically. It makes for a handy reference. Stuff like, Fingernail clipping, First-aid training, First-time offense, etc. I live for the day I get to write an index like this in a book. Only mine will read more like: Demonstrating “me-time” by example, Explaining PMS, and (my favorite), Get-the-hell-off-of-me.
