Understanding Your Clients Needs

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Understanding your

clients needs

 

Profit is the lifeblood of your business, so when it comes to increasing profit, clients are the key. Whether selling to existing clients or prospects, it’s crucial to understand their needs so opportunities, products or services can be created to fulfill them. Understanding clients and fulfilling their demands will provide a business with a competitive advantage within the marketplace.

Clients are a businesses biggest asset. Without a strong diverse client base, a business will fall apart. While attracting new clients is a necessity, it’s also critical to build lasting relationships with current clients. It’s these strong relationships that increase a client’s lifetime value for a business. Clients may align with a company’s vision, however, that does not mean the two are an ideal fit. The company’s relationship with the client must fulfill a business goal of the client’s as well. An essential tool to providing better service to clients is a client survey.

 

KNOWING YOUR CLIENTS

The more a business knows about its clients, the more effective it will be in sales, marketing and client service. Not only should a business make the effort to learn who a client is, what and why they buy, but the business should also know how their services answers those questions. When clients buy new products or services, there are several factors that play a part in the buying decision. By taking the time to understand those factors, a business can market their services in a way that tailors to the client’s need.

 

WHY USE A CLIENT SURVEY

Using a client survey, a business can gather all the answers and information needed to best serve its clients. A strong survey gathers as much content as possible in the shortest time. Surveys quick and easy to complete will also increase client participation and buy-in. A successful client survey combines multiple choice, ranking and short answer questions to gain a variety of easily analyzed answers.

The data analyzed will benefit the sales, marketing and client service departments of every business. Sales can find additional products or services to sell that will benefit the client’s bottomline. Marketing can use the information to better market their existing products or services in a way that will entice their clients they need to buy. Client service can develop projects or actionable recommendations to better help clients achieve their goals, address their pain points and build their businesses. Businesses can even use a client survey to beta test new ideas and gauge how the market will respond. From mission statements to pain points, a client survey can provide a business with the necessary information to sell to, market to and maintain their clients.

An effective client survey will enhance the knowledge a business has about its clients. It has the power to expand a business’s product portfolio through new product development or current product redesign. Conducting a client survey will demonstrate a business’s dedication to understanding its clients as well as its desire for helping clients achieve their goals.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Colin Dunn
Director & Co-founder at PANALITIX

Colin is a Chartered Accountant who, having spent almost 10 years with one of the fastest growing and most innovative firms in the UK, has since invested over 20 years helping business owners to improve their businesses with a focus on attracting new clients, better managing existing clients, developing new products, building an engaged team and strengthening internal business processes.

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