Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Francois Karstel on July 2013. It has been rewritten and reworked with more current and up to date information.

When it comes to relationship, there is a certain spectrum at play. I often think of this as a scale. Let’s say that at the furthest point of the relationship scale, it is cold. The closest point to you on the scale is warm. The warm point relates to people who know you very well, such as immediate family or your closest friends. The coldest point refers to those who don’t know you at all, like complete strangers.

Where in this spectrum should clients be? Clients should certainly not have to become your best friends, in order to have a good relationship with you, but what I am suggesting is a happy medium. Firstly you need to lure a stranger from the cold zone to the warmer zone if you want them to become a client. Don’t know how? Well, I am about to give you a step by step on how on make this happen.

Step 1 - Build trust
If you’re in the cold point in the relationship make sure that each and every point of contact is immaculate. Customers usually ask themselves these questions before hiring you. A) Can you do the job, and B) Are you reliable and will you apply yourself to get the job done. If the answer to any of these two questions is NO, then in my opinion, the customer already does not trust you. So my advice is to know what you are talking about, and assure your client that they are in good hands. First gain their trust to get them closer to the warm part of the scale. The colder people are in the relationship spectrum, the more they will look at clues to determine your credibility. Don’t give them anything to be negative about.

Step 2 - Add value to the relationship
No matter how much of an impression you think you’ve made, no one will likely remember you from a business card or a one-time meeting. Make a connection with your client that they won’t soon forget.  After the meeting, try and do some research on subjects that you spoke about, and send our client a blog article saying something like “Just saw this article and it made me think of our conversation. Some interesting research was recently done on this subject”. This shows the client you are more than just a fly by night salesman. Remember something personal about the client, whether it is their child’s name, when they are having an operation or what diet they are doing, as this gives you an opportunity to feel familiar the next time you meeting and you ask how their son Tyrone is doing.

Step 3 – Consistency
Once you have the client closer to the warmer part of the relationship scale, keeping that trust is crucial! Keep trust by consistently delivering on your clients’ expectations. Do not think that once you have hooked the client that the hard part is over. In fact, the hard work only starts then. Keep the promises you make to clients. If a customer feels that the service you provide is poorer than before, they will question coming to you again.

Step 4 – Be relevant
Doing research about you client’s industry can equip you with good questions and interesting arguments. If you know exactly what they want and where they want to take the company, you can only impress them. Every time you go to a client meeting, make sure you know all there is to know about their company’s latest happenings. It shows that your level of interests in them or their company goes further than the invoice you send them at month-end.

Step 5 - Treat every client as your most important one
Clients are your number one sales people, so you should provide all clients with your best service, regardless of whether they are 80% of your income, or a mere 5%. You never know who your clients may refer you in the future, or who they have close relationships with. Treat customers with the utmost respect, because having them closer to your warm part of the scale is a lot more beneficial to both parties. Once a client trusts you and you deliver on all of the above steps, it would be difficult to lose them as a client. Of course not every client is the same or wants the same thing, so it is your job to get to know their individual needs. The goal is to have loyal customers, and to reach the happy medium between having a good personal relationship with your client and providing them with great business solutions. Tell us how you form good relationships with your clients.

Lorraine Coetzee is a Digital Media Project Manager at Sound Idea Digital | Lorraine@soundidea.co.za | @lorraine101 | Sound Idea Digital | www.soundidea.co.za