Hi everyone; I wanted to share my experience and notes about client management in this post. My client management experience comes from SEO, PPC and web design services, so I focussed on these services mainly for the tips, but most of these tips can be applied to other services/consultancy areas.
I’ll update this post whenever I encounter a significant situation, and it will be extended with more details, but for now, it is short-form content.
During the Sales Process
- Potential customers should know the average duration that you need for success. Mention it on your slide deck or in sales meetings. In my opinion, this is the most critical action for expectation management. If possible/necessary, get a solid confirmation for this duration. You don’t want your client to complain in the process for not having results.
- Not overpromise, please!
- Be aware of what you are selling.
- Share what you need from them for your success and get a confirmation for these
- Content budget
- Developer budget
- Communication
Onboarding
- You should have a solid onboarding process. An onboarding checklist will help manage this process more smoothly. I’ll share a detailed post about onboarding in the future because this is the initial touchpoint of your service and the client, and it is highly important.
- Onboarding/welcome email
- Initial call
- Initial meeting
- A questionnaire
- To know your client better
- To understand the client’s team
- To learn more about the client’s products/services
- Whatever you need to know before starting your service
- Tools setup and needed accesses
Client Communication
- Identify the client’s knowledge gaps in your service and teach accordingly in the process
- We need to realize that we are
liketeachers to them in this learning process. Account managers should not forget this responsibility for a better client satisfaction. - Meetings
- Reporting
- Single Task Reporting
- Monthly Reports
- Quarterly Performance Reports
- After a couple of meetings and reports, you might understand your client’s communication preference and should act accordingly. There are various types of people in life. Some favours visual content, and some might want to talk(listen) to acquire new information. Some might want to read long emails. If you are not sure, ask your client and learn their preferences.
- You must make sure your reports are read by your clients. If we don’t approach with the style they like, the fault will be on us, not them!
- Clients who haven’t been contacted within x number of days
I’d like to hear your thoughts on client management. Write it in the comments! Thanks for reading.
