Push your clients to communicate back. They need to be as responsive as you are. That’s one of the things you need to encourage in a client. Boy, if you get your bill and you’re not quite sure or you don’t like it, don’t let it sit on your desk for 30 to 60 days and then not call anybody and let them know. Call and say, ‘OK what’s this about,’ and have a dialogue.
It’s true in all industries. Certainly, in our industry, we work on deadlines. If we can’t get information back from them, we can’t do our job for them. Again, it needs to be a partnership.
Even in a new business phase, I would encourage people to just ask the questions: How much time do you have? When are you accessible? What is the best way for you to be reached? How do you want us to communicate with you?
Look for ways in helping them be responsive. You say, ‘Here are things we can do.’ No. 1, we can commit — and it’s different for every client — to X number of phone calls a month. Even in our contracts we write in there we want a minimum of one face-to-face meeting per month. If you need us to come to you and sit in your offices to get the information, we are happy to do that.
We always give them all of our phone numbers — home, cell, office — but we ask them to give us theirs, as well.
Remember business doesn’t always have to be business. One of the (ways) you nurture any relationship that’s professional or personal [is] you have to always keep asking, ‘OK, I know what I would like out of this relationship, but what is it that I can offer to someone else that might help them. What information do I have that will help them do a better job?’
Scanning articles and e-mailing them that may or may not have anything to do with the work you’re doing, but you (think) this person would like this information.
Again, just face-to-face casual conversations, whether it’s just, ‘Let’s go to lunch or let’s go play golf; let me take you to the opera.’ Just so that you get out of the office and realize that we’re all people.
Even if it’s business to build and nurture relationships, it’s not always about business. It goes back to the core values that you share.
How to reach: Vollmer Public Relations Inc., (713) 970-2100 or www.vollmerpr.com
