Tips for building good client relationships

Long-term success in business is all about developing and maintaining good customer relationships.

Whether you are looking to take on new client relationships or are managing your existing customer base, this section will advise you how to make to the process easier. Here you will find practical advice on how to apologise to a client, how to increase customer value, how to get customer testimonials and much more.

Want to keep up to date with all our new tips for building good client relationship articles? Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter, sent to over 14,000 loyal readers each Tuesday, and receive four valuable bonus reports to download instantly.

(Never sold, displayed or given away)

Customer relationships articles

• Marketing

  Client briefs: Asking smart questions part 2

  My previous article on client briefs covered asking smart questions to yield the right information to help you secure contracts. For best results, you also need to consider who, when, where and how to ask these questions.

  • Published 02 July 08
  • Mark Moore
  • 2 Comments

• Marketing

  Client briefs: Are you asking smart questions?

  Delivering for a new client is of paramount importance. Yet many struggle to do this because at the outset, they fail to obtain the right information about their client’s needs. Are you asking smart questions in your client briefs?

  • Published 28 May 08
  • Mark Moore
  • 7 Comments

• Marketing

  Stop thief! When customers don't pay

  Missing: One Word document, three ideas and a truckload of expertise. If seen, please return to Noel Ranger. I've been robbed and am not happy, Jan.

  • Published 19 October 07
  • Noel Ranger
  • 16 Comments

• Marketing

  Customer relations: How to apologise to a client

  Mistakes in business are inevitable, and sometimes your actions will have a negative impact on your customer relations. Now the good news: my advice on how to eat humble pie enables you to admit the error and come out looking good.

  • Published 16 July 07
  • Linda Anderson
  • 4 Comments

• Marketing

  Client relationships: when to take on something new

  If you are new in business and keen to develop new client relationships, it is tempting to take on something you’ve never done before. Or existing clients may ask you to do something unfamiliar. But when is the right time to take on something new?

  • Published 04 July 07
  • Kathie M. Thomas
  • 6 Comments

• Marketing

  Ideal clients? Man, you just gotta love big ones

  Dear big, massive, ideal client, Thank you for getting in touch to request a proposal for my services. I was so honoured when you selected little old me to be officially added to your ‘strategic solutions partners preferred supplier list’.

  • Published 20 June 07
  • Noel Ranger
  • 7 Comments

• Marketing

  Grow through your existing customer base

  There is real growth potential in a sole trader's existing customer base, but many fail to realise its full potential. Often, more energy goes to attracting new customers or clients than looking after current ones.

  • Published 07 February 07
  • Robert Gerrish
  • 2 Comments

• Marketing

  Managing customer relationships

  To succeed in business today, you need to develop a real relationship with your customers. An authentic approach to managing customer relationships can help you shine through and win out over your competition.

  • Published 15 December 06
  • Zern Liew
  • 5 Comments

• Marketing

  How to keep customers for life

  We all know the adage that it’s a lot cheaper to keep customers than it is to get new ones. Dan Kennedy, one of the world’s leading marketers, has conducted a study into why businesses fail to keep customers.

  • Published 30 October 06
  • Peter Griffin
  • 7 Comments

• Marketing

  Four ways to increase customer value

  Your existing customers are people that already know, like and trust you. By focusing more effort on increasing their total customer value, i.e. the amount of money that they spend with you, you are virtually guaranteed to increase your profits.

  • Published 27 September 06
  • Peter Griffin
  • 4 Comments

• Marketing

  Customer relationship management: give first, receive later

  People buy goods and services from people they know, like and trust. Therefore you should you should focus more on developing customer relationship management processes, rather than the “one step” marketing of some companies.

  • Published 08 May 06
  • Peter Griffin
  • 2 Comments

• Marketing

  Four steps to getting customer testimonials

  Getting Impressive customer testimonials on your website or marketing collateral is a very powerful way to win new business. But how do you get them?

  • Published 22 July 05
  • Peter Crocker
  • 11 Comments