3 Ways to Serve Your Clients
Today’s society is all about “what can you do for ME??” It’s a me, me, me world. “Look at me!” “I’m great!” “I get results!”
Those are a lot of the phrases that are seen everyday on Facebook and Twitter. In business, and I hate to break it to you, it’s not all about you. It’s all about your clients. You wouldn’t be where you are without them. Clients are your livelihood – they are your life-line. Businesses grow and fail daily because of clients.
About a year ago we had a sermon at church about serving. I rarely ever bring religion into my business, I try to keep it separate, but this sermon really resonated with me. As soon as I the minister started talking, I was jotting notes to build this blog post.
Serving a client goes beyond actually doing what you've been hired to do. Click To Tweet Serving has to do with respect, being moral/ethical and keeping your head in the right place.
Today’s business world tends to puts the focus on the company – the one who is providing a service – but that focus is wrong. It needs to come off the company and onto the client. That is a basic customer service principle. It’s all about the customer and not you.
When serving your clients, your ego has to take a backseat. Nothing drives me more crazy than seeing a post on Facebook from a social media “expert” bragging about what THEY did for the client. I’m sorry, but shouldn’t the way you conduct yourself and handle your accounts be the telling factor in how good of a job you do? Those who feel like they have to brag, in my opinion, have their heart in the wrong place. Let me stop here a second. I know there are people who tout different things on social media about themselves, but there’s a difference in obvious bragging/attention-seeking and sharing what worked for someone.
When you approach your clients, there are 3 questions to keep in mind (and these came from Creature of the World by Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson & Eric Geiger and the sermon I previously mentioned).
How can I be concerned about you and your needs?
Ask them what you can do to help make the relationship a successful one – what do you need to know.
How can I disadvantage myself for your advantage?
You may have to inconvenience yourself for your clients – step out of the comfort zone. That’s not always a bad thing. Those who go the extra mile will do far better.
What would it mean to consider you more significant than me?
This is where ego comes in. You have to set it aside to have a great client relationship. They come before you. Every time.
When you really put your client first and show that you value that relationship, things will work easier and better. Be a servant to them. You are there to provide some sort of support to them and their business.
How do you serve your clients?
