I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the fall of 2008 and I was in my first year in business. At the time I was a 21 year-old kid who was still learning.
That day I took a call from a client who gave me an earful. I can still hear him giving me a piece of his mind. The thing is, I deserved it. I had it coming. He lit me up!
When I talk about learning on the job and learning while doing the work, this is it. It’s how you find out what works and doesn’t work.
I had failed to notify him of some changes that were happening. It was a big change and we had neglected to prepare and notify him. My hope was he wouldn’t notice or say anything.
Well he did. I apologized and had to backtrack. I explained everything. Why I didn’t notify him and what my line of thinking was. I believe he respected me for being up front and honest about it. He must have not disliked me too bad because he stayed with me and was one of my clients all the way up until he passed away recently.
I was taught a lesson. Always call your clients before they call you.
When it comes to business and services, people hate change and they hate surprises.
If something is changing for the good or the bad, you owe it to your clients to notify them. Don’t try and hide something within another communication or hope they don’t notice it. Hoping that it just slides by isn’t a recipe worth trying. That’s bad business and not a mentality that generates long-term success and trust.
I learned that lesson early on. If they catch it or find out that something is changing and you don’t let them know, watch out.
From that day forward I decided I was going to be proactive with my clients. Even if it’s too much information or things they may not care about, I still notify them.
My goal is to keep them informed and updated. I don’t want to give my clients a reason to shop me, my business and our services.
I view it as one of the foundational principles in business.
Reasons To Contact Your Clients
Today it seems like things are always changing. That’s where you have to evaluate what should be communicated to your clients. If it affects them in regards to your products and services, then you should let them know. I always look at it and ask my team in the following way.
If you were a client, what would you want to know?
Then from there you can craft your message. We use the following as a blueprint.
What’s changing?
What do they need to know?
What’s your plan of action or recommendation?
Ways To Keep In Touch
Once we know what needs to be communicated, it goes to the next step, which is how do we let them know.
When I first started in business the phone or a letter were the only true means of communication. Now you have email, newsletters, texting and so on.
Now it may not need to be phone call. You could send an email or a letter. You may communicate it in your newsletter or annual letter that you send. Or maybe you think it’s so important that you include it in all the following ways.
Phone Call- The most personable but also the most time consuming. Today many people don’t answer their phone or listen to their voicemails. Texting seems to generate a read and response better than calling them.
Email- Now the most preferred means of communication. People also receive many emails and often important emails get lost or never read.
Letter- The most efficient and guaranteed way for someone to see something is still by mail. It’s costly and time consuming but is the way to make sure what you want to relay actually gets read.
Newsletter- A newer way to keep in contact with your clients is by doing a newsletter. I wrote a post on the importance of newsletters in the past. Keeping In Touch: The importance of newsletters
Annual Letter- An annual letter is another way to make sure each year you cover certain topics, changes or whatever else you want to tell your clients. I previously wrote a post on them. Your Annual Letter: Speaking to clients, customers, subscribers and fans.
Don’t get the why didn’t you call me or why didn’t you notify me?
Be proactive and not reactive. Aim to be upfront and honest. Your clients will appreciate it.
Continue to ask, what’s separating you and your company from everyone else? Give a reason not to shop you and your services.
Contact your clients before they contact you.
The Coffee Table ☕
Tim Ferriss did a post of his 25 favorites things so far in 2023 from his 5 Bullet Friday emails. 25 of My Favorite Books, Articles, Gadgets, Tech, and More (So Far in 2023) Every year there are a few things that Tim recommends that I find interesting or useful.
We watched a funny short comedy series on Netflix with our kids called Man Vs Bee. It stars Rowan Atkinson or as we all know him, Mr. Bean. It’s light-hearted, funny and goofy. The perfect thing to watch as a family. The kids were laughing out loud countless time. Even I did a couple times!
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