Know-How Exchange : MProfs PRO Seminar Q&A

I've not used this interface previously, so please forgive me if I don't get it right!!

I am in the creative services field, and I know that some clients of ours don't talk us up because they have a sort of ''proprietary'' sense of their relationship with us -- in other words, they don't necessarily WANT other people working with us, because we're ''theirs''. Do you have any advice for dealing with that?

Another way of asking my question would be: How can we motivate our clients to talk us up when they are concerned it will compromise our service to them? It's sort of a joke in the field that you don't ever want your client to think about the fact that you have other clients...

Hi Paula,
I saw that you brought this up at the webinar and we didn't get to your question - so thanks for bringing it up here.

What an intriguing question.

Your clients are probably most concerned about revealing to their competitors that you are their partner. But what about other non-competing clients in different industries? Perhaps you can nurture a way for clients to provide feedback to future clients in industries separate from theirs. I like the idea of trying to untangle this one because it has to do with first honoring the customers' concerns.

If you can first begin with honoring those concerns, then work with them to be available for feedback for non-competing potential clients, this could be a good way to approach this. As a "reward" clients usually prefer some additional services rather than the old fashioned cash referral reward.

Jeanne

For the "reward," it's been my experience that a sincere and personal thank-you beats money or additional services.

If it's a really big deal, perhaps a nice dinner would be in order, but usually a referral is given by an individual, and thanking that individual by giving something to the company doesn't really express what you mean ... It's not personal enough.

Besides, "additional services" can be quite expensive if you value your time as much as you want your client to value it. And to say thank you with something that valuable runs the risk of communicating that you're charging too much for your services.

Try the sincere "thank you" instead.