8 Unique ways to maintain a relationship with previous clients
8 Unique ways to maintain a relationship with previous clients.
Most businesses will have a follow up strategy in place to keep in touch with previous clients. If you worked well together, it’s one of the easiest ways to pick up continued business with a low acquisition cost. Generally speaking though, most businesses tend to reach out in the same way; an email or a text message with very generic content and the premise of ‘just checking in’.
How can you make these scheduled check-ins more impactful and impress your clients? The following list of 8 ideas might provide some inspiration.
1./ Personalised email.
Did your client just announce something on social media? Did you subscribe to their company newsletter and saw an interesting story in the latest version? Was their annual report just released with some great statistics (or perhaps some challenges you could help them with?) Rather than stick to a calendar schedule for outreach, why not reach out in direct response to something that is of importance for the client. Email with a congratulatory message about their latest hire you saw they made on LinkedIn, send them an interesting article on a topic you know impacts their business, send some strategies that are relevant to their industry.
This email could also include key information about your own business. Perhaps any new hires you’ve made recently, how you’ve grown, new services offered, or articles and strategies you’ve recently written or implemented that could be relevant to their business.
The aim of this email is to let them know you understand them, their challenges and their industry and to pique their interest in working with you again soon.
2./ Customised infographics or reports.
Do you tend to work in a certain location or with certain industries? Invest in the research, collation and presentation of data that is extremely valuable to this cohort. Create informative and visually appealing infographics or reports showcasing industry trends, challenges and solutions.
For example, if you work with AirBNB hosts, you could create a clear infographic that outlines the latest research into the key house items that contribute to 5 star reviews.
Print these reports as a professional resource and post to your contact’s address with a personalised handwritten note.
You can also share these via email, on your social channels and on your website.
3./ Invite only workshop.
Host an exclusive invite-only event tailored to their industry’s current challenges, a new technology or even regulatory updates ect. You may need to host several different workshops to appeal to different groups of clients, but by making it very specific you build the value offering. You may like to host at a nice venue with catering, or you may choose to host in your offices to keep costs down. You could look to include a guest speaker that is well known in the industry, or showcase a business similar to those in attendance and work around a case study format.
The most important aspect is that the clients walk away feeling that it was of great value for them to attend and not a sales pitch. If they feel like it was a waste of time, you will have likely burnt them.
4./ Invite them to attend an industry event as your guest.
When we look to sponsor industry events, we tend to automatically think of inviting our largest current client. And yes, this is generally a good idea. If possible though, also try to include some past or potential clients in the rotation. They are likely to be much more responsive to post event outreach if you have paid for them to attend a worthwhile event.
If you work with small business owners, sponsor a previous client to join you at the next small business forum in their suburb. It may also open the conversation about how you can help them implement the strategies they discover at the event. They may also post about the event on social media and tag you as their sponsor, therefore providing PR opportunities for you amongst their network.
5./ Client appreciation event.
Organise a small-scale client event in the area, perhaps a networking dinner or casual after work drinks. You could include both current and previous clients and frame it as a networking and collaboration opportunity.
6./ Expert guest blog post.
If your client creates content for a website, blog, newsletter or industry publication, reach out and let them know you would be happy to contribute stories and articles. These could be case based examples, an update on a current industry trend or innovative insights and strategies that could benefit their audience. This not only showcases your expertise to your client but also to potential future clients through their network. We all know content can be a challenge to create consistently, so you are most likely helping them out by taking one content piece off their list.
7./ Video messages.
These need to be treated carefully, but a personalised short video message sent to your client can have much higher engagement rates than email or phone calls. A quick congratulatory message, or a ‘just saw this and thought you might be interested’ can be much more memorable in video format.
8./ VIP access to beta services.
Provide exclusive access or a ‘trial run’ of a new system, program or tool your company is developing. Frame this as a VIP opportunity for them due to past collaboration.
Remember, the key to previous client outreach is to keep you top of mind but in a format that provides genuine value and a personalised approach that demonstrates your understanding of their business and its challenges.
Need a head start? Download a copy of our Client Event Planning Guide for FREE!
