Every small business owner wants repeat business. Even if you’re all about the hustle, it requires a ton of active work to constantly pitch your products and services to others.
Having some repeat business can provide you with a sense of security and stability while you dedicate some time and effort to grow your business in other areas.
So how can you turn clients into repeat business? Here are my top tips.
Over Deliver When it Comes to Results
Yes, that’s right. Don’t just deliver what you promised, but provide even more value.
You shouldn’t be afraid to go the extra mile. When you deliver high-quality results, it not only beats out the competition but established a proven track record with the client. This sets you up for repeats orders and business.
One thing I do that’s pretty simple is try to turn in my freelance articles before the due date. Naturally, I like to stay ahead of schedule and this benefits my clients because they hardly ever find themselves waiting for me to turn in work.
It also speaks to your work ethic. People naturally want to be surrounded by hard workers who make an impact. If you can exceed a client’s expectations, they are more than likely to hire you again.
Provide a Pleasant Experience
Exceeding expectations will also help you create a pleasant experience with the customer or client. Set realistic expectations and stick to what the terms are. Offer excellent customer service as well as a user-friendly experience if you’re selling something.
For example, you don’t want your sales page to be misleading or have a confusing checkout process. If working with you becomes a hassle for the client or customer, it’s likely that they won’t return to do business.
Be Quick to Respond
It’s understandable that people are busy. As a business owner, your typical workday can probably get hectic. Nevertheless, it’s a good business practice to offer unmatched customer service and respond to questions, comments, etc. in a timely manner.
A good goal to set is to respond and address inquiries from customers and clients before the end of the business day and allow 24 hours to respond to other less urgent emails and inquiries.
I personally prioritize client emails over any other email. I want to communicate effectively with clients and make sure my turnaround time isn’t drawn out. I may not be able to respond immediately all the time, but I do aim to respond to important inquiries within 1-3 hours during work days.
Being attentive to this shows that you’re a dependable professional and again, can motivate clients to hire you for repeat business.
Express Your Interest in Working Together in the Future
This is one of the easiest ways to get repeat business. Just simply let people know you’re looking forward to working together again.
If you’re a freelancer, you can ask one-time clients to consider you for future projects or even pitch a contract where you have a regular role and ongoing assignments.
If you’re selling products to consumers, get them on your email list and provide coupons for future orders or just let them know about other products they can purchase from you in the future.
Summary
Repeat and loyal customers is what’s it’s all about when running a business. If you don’t have that, you’ll end up basically running around in circles and unable to reach the next level.
Focus on implementing these 4 tactics to turn clients into repeat business and stabilize your workload.
