When was the last time you reached out to your clients? If you’re on top of it, good for you! If you’re sitting there scratching your head trying to remember, that’s not a good sign.
As a client it’s easy to feel lost in a sea of customers, so creative, personal efforts by their agent will never go unnoticed. Check out these tips on how to bring client services back to the forefront and retain (and possibly gain new) clients for years to come.
Send snail mail
It sounds backwards: why send snail mail when email is so easy, quick, and free. Yes it costs a little money but if you have a history with clients and they see something come in their mailbox from you, they’re going to look at it. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy seeing something other than a bill in their mailbox? Postcards are a quick, cheap, and an effective way to help you stand out. Do a little digging and you’ll find many websites offer free design, production, and even will mail your correspondence out for you.
Hold a seminar
A seminar is a great way to regroup with your clients, touch base with them, and let them know what products you can offer them. This gives them a forum to ask questions and learn new information. Not sure what kind of seminar to have? Keep it small and simple. Maybe your senior clients aren’t so sure how to log in to their portal. Or perhaps your clients want to get a feel for other plan options. Regardless of what the topic is, as long as your clients walk away more informed than when they arrived, it will be a successful and well-received seminar.
Throw a customer appreciation party
Maybe the anniversary of opening your agency is coming up. Maybe it’s your birthday. No matter the reason, turn it into an appreciation party for your valuable clients. After all, without them you’d be nothing. This is the perfect opportunity for them to bring their families and put a face to a name all while having fun and creating positive memories associated with you and your business. It’s also great for your staff to come out from behind the scenes, let loose, and have some fun!
Send a birthday card
We all want to be valued, especially by a company that we give a lot of money to yearly. A birthday card is a quick, easy way to let your customer know that you took the time out to send them a message. The sentiment is what matters but what you do is completely up to you. Anything from a simple email message to a lavish gift basket and everything in between would be appreciated and remembered. It’s a great way to keep your clients loyal to you!
Sponsor a local sports team or school fundraiser
People love a local supporter because it promotes camaraderie and helps establish and grow a positive association and bond with your business. By sponsoring a local sports team or school fundraiser your clients will be reminded that their agent cares about their community, which is never a bad thing.
Hold a social media contest
As you are probably well aware, social media is a great tool to advertise your business and post pictures, but why not use it to hold a contest? If you can come up with a creative, valuable prize, it’s a great way to lure customers to engage and submit data that you could use to your advantage. The prize could be monetary, physical, or a service that you can provide. Anything large or small you think that another person would value would be a wonderful idea. Just make sure you look up the local rules that pertain to giveaways so everything is legal.
We’re all in the same boat. We’re struggling to find pockets of time throughout the day to get to that one last thing on our to-do list but there’s just not enough hours in the day. It’s easy to let client management fall by the wayside while you’re going about your day-to-day business, but whether they know it or not, clients want to hear from you and feel valued. Take some of these ideas and get those wheels turning. You can come up with something personal and creative that fits your business and ultimately retain your precious clients.
