How to Serve Your Small Business Clients (Hint: It’s All About Alignment)
Let’s talk about clients.
When you’re in business for yourself, clients can be a full-time preoccupation:
- Who are my clients?
- Where do I find them?
- How do I keep them?
- How do I take good care of them?
- How do I get them to recommend me to their friends?
Answering these questions can help calm your mind, give you a sense of direction, and help your business flourish. Don’t answer them, and you may find yourself waking up at night in a panic – or maybe that was just me?
When you’re new to business, these client questions loom large, which makes sense because you’re in the process of finding your groove. Once you’ve been in business for a while, a different situation presents itself: you often get comfortable, and without realizing it, don’t give clients the same type of attention and care you once did. I’m not saying you take them for granted necessarily – it’s more like since you’ve found your groove, you tend to let go of some of the focused attention you used to give, and it’s easy to get ever so slightly sloppy.
No matter where you are on the spectrum, you’ll eventually find yourself at a place where you need to figure your small business clients thing out.
Many of the questions that wake you up at night can be broken down into two categories:
- Logistics, which are the mechanics of getting and serving clients.
- Alignment, which is how much of your client work matches your vision.
Logistics are figure-out-able.
The good news is that logistics are figure-out-able: you can work with a mentor or coach to learn how to do what you don’t know, use a system like Get Clients Now! Virtual Success Course as structure to keep you accountable and on task, or even hire someone to do the work for you. Once you get the hang of things, logistics can be easy enough to accomplish.
Alignment is a different animal.
It’s up to you to make sure you know what your small business clients are all about, and that the vision of your business is being carried out in how you serve them. This is something you can meditate on, write about, and bounce off of others. In the end, though, it’s a sense you have internally of knowing things are arranged just right for you to accomplish your vision, and make the difference you’re here to make.
To sort things out, start back at the beginning. There’s a reason why you went to work for yourself, and it was probably more than just the desire to not work for anyone else anymore. You wanted to do something in the world, make an impact. Thinking about that, then thinking about your clients, can you see the connection between your big idea and what you do for people? How can you use that connection to establish a client-centric focus – empowering you, your business, and your clients to flourish?
I encourage you to pause for a minute today and figure out where you’re at on this client journey. Remember your business why. Review your logistics. Do an internal check for alignment between your intention and actions. Once you’ve done this, you’ll have your road map – one that makes getting, and taking care of, clients a breeze.
