the basics of building a service business
1 Comment Published November 12th, 2002 in leadership + management, marketing + advertising, small businessThe latest from Sitepoint: 5 Steps to Relationship Marketing Success!
Follow these 5 steps:
1. Change your Perspective from “Here’s what I do” to “What do you need?”
2. Recognize your Vulnerability
3. Keep in touch
4. Position Yourself as an Expert
5. Grow to Meet Client Needs
To get to the payoff:
The benefits of a relationship marketing approach go both ways. Your client views you as a valuable consultant, rather than a cost center. Your potential for increased revenues and a long-lasting relationship is real.
There’s payoff for you, too, including reduced marketing expenses measured in both time and money. If you can retain more clients for longer periods, you’ll trim costly space advertising and other marketing costs.
If you ask, you’ll get more referrals from your clients. Priceless word-of-mouth endorsements from satisfied customers will result in new business which magically walks in the door.
Read, and apply to all general business endeavors, not just building a web-design company.
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I take issue with the first step here. Sure, we all want to be “solution providers,” but positioning yourself as a supplier of “What do you need?” seems in stark contrast to the fourth rule, “Position yourself as an expert.” My old consulting partner Steve Diorio had a routine about asking the customer what he wants and he’ll tell you he wants you to deliver the product to his door, give it to him for free and cut his lawn while you’e at it.
Sure, you want to be flexible, understand their issues, their needs and sources of pain, etc. But I would recommend against trying to pretend to be all things to all people, as in “I do whatever you need.” Experts are experts of something, as in “Here is what I do.”