3 Easy Ways to Make New Clients Feel Valued
There are essentially two sides to every service-based business: 1) The actual delivery of the services, and 2) The client experience. Even if you can perform your services exceptionally well and get your clients amazing results, making sure your clients feel valued is equally as crucial. There’s no better time to start than from the very beginning.
By making new clients feel valued, you’re ensuring that they actually enjoyed working with you. They can enjoy the results your work brought them, but you’re less likely to receive a great testimonial, repeat business, or referrals if they didn’t feel like their experience was a positive one.
So to avoid all of that, we’re here to show you three extremely easy and effective ways to make new clients feel valued!
1. Send a Welcoming Gift
Your new clients are putting their full trust (and money!) in you to perform your services, so we recommend showing your appreciation with a welcoming gift. This doesn’t have to be a huge gift at all. A small $5 or $10 gift card for Amazon would be a great gift that’s also very general and would work for everyone.
If you learn some more info from the discovery call, like they have pets or love coffee, you could send a more specific giftcard to Starbucks or PetSmart. (Just make sure they actually have these stores or something similar in their area.) This would be best because it’s more personalized to the client and shows that you were paying attention to these small details about them, but a general gift would still work awesome.
2. Ask for Fun Facts in Your Forms to Get to Know Them
We’d venture to guess you probably have some kind of onboarding questionnaire or client homework form you send to new clients to give them a sort of tour of what they can expect working with you, what tasks you need them to complete, get answers to questions that will help you deliver your services, and things of that nature. Why not add some questions to get to know them beyond just the fact that they’re a client?
Here are a few fun ideas:
What do you like to do in your free time?
What’s your Enneagram type? (Similarly, what’s your Myers-Briggs type?)
What’s your zodiac sign?
Are you a Pepsi or Coke person? Or neither?
What’s your Instagram handle so I can follow you? (Or another social media platform)
Do you have any pets?
Is there a quote or saying that you live by?
If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?
What was the last book you read? Last show you binged?
Alternatively, if time allows, you could even ask a few of these questions during the discovery call to help break the ice. They also serve as great conversation starters if your process calls for a kick off call once a client has booked with you.
3. Send a Personalized Welcome Video
Whether you’re sending it in the body of an email or adding it to a form, filming a quick, personalized video is an awesome way to convey your excitement and appreciation to a client beyond just reading text. This may seem like it’ll take too much time, but the video only needs to be a minute or two long.
We recommend actually saying the client’s name in the video. When you have a general introduction that doesn’t address the specific client or project, 9 times out of 10, they can tell it’s a video that’s sent to every client. By taking the super short time to create a video just for them, the effort will really shine through.
During and After the Project
Making clients feel valued doesn’t stop at the beginning stages of your working relationship! You must continue this effort throughout your time working together all the way to the final farewell. Here are some bonus ideas for how to continue providing value through your client experience:
Present a Client Results Presentation (or send it as a PDF) showcasing the results you’ve been able to achieve for them so far.
Send gifts or kind words for their birthday or to celebrate milestones in their life or business.
Send a thank you card once you’ve finished working together. Send it as an e-card via email or a physical card with a nice handwritten note.
Over Communicate and send regular check-ins. It’s better to have them tell you to stop emailing them so much versus wondering if you’ve gone ghost on them.
Provide sneak peeks of projects when able. For instance, a photographer could send a couple of the first photos that were edited to build excitement. A web designer could send a screenshot of what the home page looks like so far.
By combining all of these ideas, you’ll become a master of making clients feel valued in no time at all.
Speaking of time, these small tasks don’t take up a ton of time on your calendar, but they do make a big impression. After all, actions speak louder than words, no matter how small those actions may be!
Ready to get serious about making your clients feel valued? Check out our Client Experience Bundle in The Creative Shop Co-op! It includes a Welcome Kit, Services & Pricing Guide, Client Results Presentation, Welcome Guide, and more. Put simply, it’s the crème de la crème of bundles for those who are serious about improving their client experience.
Can we let you in on a little secret? By becoming a Co-op member, you can download this bundle, plus all other templates available and upcoming for only $47/month. Just head here to learn more about what The Co-op has to offer and gain instant download access to these templates!
