The High Cost of Fractured Client Relationships
When chatting with clients I often find a theme leaps out in our conversations. This month, severed client relationships and misunderstandings has dominated. We all know the costs:
- Potential legal remedies
- Lost revenue
- Lost opportunity
- Lost client acquisition investment
- Loss of reputation
- Employee stress and fatigue
- The list goes on…
But did you know that there is always a preventable theme? The comments I hear are always like this:
- It’s not what I expected
- I told them that…
- It did not work properly
- They did not read the instructions…
- It cost more than I thought
- They subscribed to the ‘Gold’ package
- It was three months late
- We had supply chain problems, we offered options
- And the list goes on…
Familiar? Time to look at your ‘Contract Review’ process.
People do not read contracts, start beginning and end. Knowing this and understanding what can go wrong ‘risk mitigation’, is your solution to client misunderstanding and crisis. There is a reason that financial, legal, high ticket item sales involve a personal review of all the conditions of sale. Think about the FAQs that could be better communicated so you enter your client relationships with a full understanding of the expectations. Try:
- Write Terms/SOWs/Contracts in plain English
- Highlight the frequently misunderstood areas
- Make sign-off process friendly and complete
- Follow-up frequently
- Complete after sales quality review
- And other stuff that enhances you brand
Let’s chat more about this: Contact me
