5 Ways to Build and Maintain Strong Agency-Client Relationships in a Competitive Market

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5 Ways to Build and Maintain Strong Agency-Client Relationships in a Competitive Market

By Nicholas Leighton | Entrepreneur Magazine | May 1, 2024

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For marketing, advertising and PR firms, the relationships built between the company and clients are critical for driving repeated business, sustained growth and positive word of mouth. Maintaining these vital relationships is becoming increasingly difficult due to a fiercely competitive market where clients are looking for higher engagement, lower costs and better quality products and services.  How you can do for your business, 5 suggestions:

1. Set clear expectations and deliver on your promises.  One of the best ways to build a relationship with your customers is by always delivering superior products and services. However, accomplishing this starts at the beginning of the relationship by setting clear expectations on what they can expect. Being transparent about the intended outcome, delivery timeframes and communication helps avoid any frustration that might come from misunderstandings or misaligned expectations. 
2. Focus on creating value first.  Selling your services is an important part of growing revenue for your business. However, focusing solely on what you can get out of your customers could be sabotaging your ability to build strong relationships with your clients. Instead, focus on first providing them with value. This starts well before you sign your first contract. When clients see tangible value and benefits immediately from working with your business, they are more likely to reciprocate by remaining loyal customers to your company.
3. Communication, communication, communication.  Sustaining an ongoing relationship with your clients requires connecting on a regular basis, even if they aren’t ready to purchase from you again.  Taking the time to check in with your clients on a regular basis is a great way to maintain a strong relationship. This also helps eliminate tension and remove the defenses that come up when every contact ends up being a sales pitch.
4. Own your mistakes.  From time to time, your agency is going to make a mistake or upset a customer. That’s unavoidable. You’re going to miss a deadline, deliver an advertisement that should have never made it past the quality control process or drop the ball entirely. How your business responds to these issues can make a huge difference with your customers. Owning the mistake, being transparent about what happened and proactively working on a solution, lets them know that you care about resolving the issue.
5. Learn from failure through continuous improvement.  Sometimes, you’ll lose clients no matter what your business does. While the goal is to retain your clients, there is a silver lining to client turnover. As frustrating as it might be, always try to part ways on good terms. You never know when they might decide to come back to your business. A good way to do this is by offering them some form of value on their way out.  Also, taking the time to understand why they are leaving can highlight opportunities for improvement. Over time, taking action on these lessons can greatly strengthen your processes and ensure you avoid any roadblocks to building and sustaining long-term customer relationships.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. For marketing, advertising and PR firms, the relationships built between the company and clients are critical for driving repeated business, sustained growth and positive word of mouth. Maintaining these vital relationships is becoming increasingly difficult due to a fiercely competitive market where clients are looking for higher engagement, lower costs and better quality products and services. 
2. Acquiring new customers is not only challenging, but expensive as well. It’s much more effective to spend time retaining the customers you have. By building strong customer relationships, entrepreneurs can protect their revenue and position their companies for growth and success
3. Five ways you can build strong relationship with you customers are: keep your promises and over-deliver when possible, focus on creating value first, remain in communication with your customers on a regular basis, even if they aren’t ready to purchase from you again, own your mistakes, and learn from failure through continuous improvement. 

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Topics:  Entrepreneurship, Customer Relationships, Marketing