Customer Service
Week 2021.
How to get loyal customers
Do you think that doing your job well and keeping the prices reasonable will make your customers happy and loyal?
Well, not in 2021.
As Jill Griffin proves in her book on Customer Loyalty, "customers who are satisfied with a product or service will defect to buy a competitor's product without hesitation." Both businesses and freelancers must go beyond their usual concerns with client satisfaction and take steps to ensure greater loyalty.
According to Jill, clients become loyal through seven stages. For this Week of Customer Service post, we have collected examples from our agency practice on how to go through all those 7 stages and get maximum loyal customers.
Stage 1: A suspect.
We qualify clients on Upwork using qualification criteria. These criteria, such as the suspect's niche or feedback, lets us spend time with only those clients who are likely to become the perfect match for our agency. Determining such qualification criteria beforehand will save a lot of time and money for your business.
Stage 2: A prospect.
A prospect is someone who needs your product or service and can buy it. At this stage, our sales team's goal is to understand the client's pain and figure out whether we can solve it. It's not just about closing any prospect. For Etcetera this stage is about deciding whether we can become longtime mutually beneficial partners.
Stage 3: Disqualified Prospect.
Disqualifying prospects is also a part of delivering a good customer experience. The sooner we determine that the client is not a good fit with our agency, the more it shows how we value the prospect's time and our resources. Don't be afraid to disqualify your prospective customers. It might seem scary to reject a prospect, but it serves your business well in the long run.
Stage 4: First-time customer.
"The sale is not the objective of the marketing process; It is the beginning of a lifetime customer relationship."
We agree with Jill on this 100%. So, to meet and exceed our first-time customers' expectations, we have Contract Coordinators for ALL jobs. Their task is to help freelancers deliver outstanding results and support the client through the process.
Stage 5: Repeat customers.
When our customers start working with us on a regular basis, account managers make sure that they stay happy. They do regular checks to see if there are any issues, which we immediately address. It guarantees that the customers remain comfortable with our cooperation over time.
Stage 6: A client.
A client, by Jill's definition, is a person who purchases regularly. For example, we have strong, ongoing relationships with many agencies, who outsource some of their clients' tasks to our freelancers. At this stage, our goal is to help such agencies make their customers happy. We can go above and beyond and offer to white label our services or create special package deals to ensure that their business will grow successfully.
Stage 7: An Advocate.
An Advocate encourages others to buy from you. He talks about you and does marketing for you. Having your clients as advocates of your business is the ultimate goal of customer service. So, we make sure never to lose touch with Etcetera clients. We follow up on their birthdays, get in touch if they open a new job proposal, and connect with them on social media. Because we don't just want to earn our pay on projects, but we strive to build close, warm relationships with our partners.
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