Are you worried that you might lose clients due to an inability to respond to their messages in a timely fashion? Regardless of your industry, there may come times when your client needs to talk to you now--not in a few hours and not in the next day. Though it's impossible to remain available constantly, there are some ways you can foster a healthy client relationship even when you're not around.
1. Set an Out of Office Reply Email
Whenever you won't be responding to your new emails quickly, you should have an out of office reply. But don't just say that you're out of the office. Give the client the exact time you will be returning and tell them what to do next, such as leave detailed contact information and a brief description of their inquiry.
2. Use an Around the Clock Answering Service
One great way to make sure clients are never left in the dark is to use an answering service. The answering service will take information down from your client to make sure that you can get in touch with them again later on. Many people will simply hang up when they reach a voice mail rather than leaving a message; a live voice is the best way to capture a client call.
3. Transfer Your Calls During Busy Times
When you know you're going to be getting a high volume of calls, you may want to transfer them to your cellphone during the evenings--or to an office manager or other employee. As an example, a tax accounting office will certainly see more calls during the peak of tax season. During these times, clients are often worried and need to talk to someone immediately. Going the extra mile to connect with them will show them that you care.
4. Consolidate and Sync All Communications
It's extremely important that nothing fall through the cracks. Every time someone leaves you a message--whether it be an email, voice mail or text message--it's a lead that you need to secure. To facilitate this, make sure that everything is either forwarded or duplicated to a central area, such as your smartphone. If you have a work voice mail, personal voice mail, three email addresses and two Internet calling numbers, you're certain to drop the ball at some point.
Client communication is the backbone to virtually every operation, and having consistent and timely client communications is often the best way to ensure that your clients feel valued. By using the above methods, you'll show your existing and prospective clients that you are always considering their needs.
Share10 December 2014
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