Successfully accomplishing your project while failing to make your client happy and satisfied appears to be the worst-case scenario. Nobody wants to spend their precious time and resources working on the project that is unlikely to have a positive outcome. It is important to consider client reporting and how you will handle letting your client know about updates in your project.
Most clients enter business with certain expectations on their mind and it is of key importance to meet and possibly exceed those expectations. While, at first, it might seem easy to achieve this goal, you would be surprised how many things can get out of hand.
Customers expectations are usually dynamic and managing them accordingly can be a big challenge. Nevertheless, every marketer knows that a loyal customer is a golden nugget in business as it can seriously boost the company’s productivity and efficiency. Take a look at a few steps to make the best out of your client collaboration through excellent client reporting.
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Be Consistent Across Media Channels
Trust and respect are crucial factors in building a healthy and strong bond with a client. While it is an imperative to reflect your brand values in everything you do, make sure that all the message you decide to send via various media channels is consistent. A powerful message and visual branding reinforce your identity and, undoubtedly, win the trust of your clients. This will not only give your business personality and identity but it will also effectively develop customer loyalty and make you stand out from the plethora of other marketing agencies.
Avoid Poor Communication and Service
One of the ways that will bring collaboration between you and your customer to a whole new level and that will yield great results, in the long run, is constant and effective communication with a client. Keeping them regularly updated about all the changes and stages of the project development and involving them in the project from the start will significantly improve your customer service and drive positive sentiment. There are a wide range of robust project management tools for marketing teams. These tools allow your client to actively participate in the development of your project by tracking the tasks themselves and it helps them provide feedback. In this way, they will see how hard you are working on the project and will trust you more.
Stick To Your Promises
Another important thing that usually has a major impact on client collaboration is mismatched and undefined client expectations. Before taking any steps, you need to set clear boundaries and reasonable expectations. If a client asks you to finish an ambitious project in around month and you know that it is almost impossible to accomplish this, you need to be realistic. It’s always a better idea to give your team some cushion for the unexpected and meet deadlines or even finish ahead of time. Otherwise, you might cause misunderstandings and make your clients leave the project later. However, clients expectations are an ever-evolving process and sometimes it is not possible to predict what their requirements will be.
To prevent this, you should consider making a survey that will give your clients a clear insight into the type of services your company delivers and make sure that both of you are on the same page.
Learn About Your Client’s Industry
One of the prerequisites of a successful relationship with your client is to find out as much information as possible about your client’s industry. Instead of only discussing the issues and going through the schedule with your client, be proactive and share some invaluable information that your client will benefit from. By being knowledgeable, you will be the first person they will come to if there is an obstacle they need to overcome. You will be their eyes and ears. Make sure you stay regularly informed about any industry developments and news so you can share everything you need to with your clients that you think will make important changes to their business. Your clients will appreciate your effort and will undoubtedly show a willingness to continue collaboration with you in future.
Be Proactive In Your Client Reporting
No client wants to be kept in the dark about any project updates or important modifications. Since the project development is a complex process which involves working on multiple tasks at the same time, summarizing all the work your team has completed in one week and sending your client a “weekly update” will make a huge difference to your client collaboration. In this way, your client will have a clear overview of all the steps your team went through and will know exactly what you have been working on.Weekly updates are a huge time-saver and they undoubtedly keep both your team and clients on the same page. Also, keep in mind that a status report enables your client to give immediate feedback, which, in turn, improves the overall communication and prevents any misunderstandings.
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Do you have any extra tips for client reporting? How do you let your clients know about changes and updates to your projects? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments below!
