Personal touch in Service Based Business

All service related businesses strive to add more clients and maintain the loyal patronage of established clients. There are numerous ways to go about this. Obviously service, price, and value all play critical roles but they are not the only way to get an edge on the competition. If you are looking for ways to increase your client base and gain more repeat business consider these ideas.

The Personal Touch

In a service based business the key is service. Simple retail business gains customers by selling new products or better pricing. But in service industry you seldom gain or lose business purely due to price and the addition of product.

The easiest way to gain loyalty is by a personal call or visit on a client. This is demonstrative of your commitment to provide service to them. Large clients simply expect this. Failing to do so will quickly lose your contract to a more in touch competitor. Small clients love being treated as if they are a large client. What is small to you may not be small to them at all and the loyalty you build can pay big dividends in referral business and larger contracts later on.

For new business a direct personal approach is far more effective than mass market approach. Claiming you are 100% committed to service and personal attention to each and every one of your clients in a spam email or bulk mail is not going to get attention. Though personal visits and phone calls may not be suitable for every new introduction an actual signature and first class postage on the letter is certainly a step in the right direction.

Email is best done if it can be addressed to a specific person and if you need to use a mail program use one that actually sends individual emails. Even BCC is often detected by major mail servers and instantly gets your email sent to the spam folder if the mail server detects 200 recipients. Always try to have a specific email address or phone and name on the return. If the reply is to salesdept@xyz.com it does not give an impression of service or interest at all.

Relationship Building

Business relationships are not unlike personal relationships. If you want to get to know somebody better you look for ways to spend more time with them or buy them a gift to make an impression. That is how the business lunch or business over drinks began. It is very similar to dating really. In the business world it also gives an additional time for a meeting – maybe they have no appointments available to talk to you but they will still be taking a lunch break that you may be able to capitalise on.

Face time with the decision maker of a client is the best method of getting a client. It is also the best way to make certain clients you already have do not forget about you and start shopping your services based solely on price. It is far cheaper to buy a lunch every couple months than to be forced to offer a steep discount to match the price of a competitor that is undercutting you solely for the purpose of stealing business. Also, if you do lose a client and the competitor fails in any way to meet expectations you will be a faster call for them to make.

While the primary decision maker is the key, they are often influenced by other co-workers. In a close call as to where to send business it is always good to have the rest of their office staff on your side. Consider having a buffet style lunch delivered by an office catering service to their office to earn a new contract or to say thank you for past business and your calls will always be put through.

These small personal touches and favours will build client base and gain loyalty more effectively than many times the same cost of mass advertising.