Service companies often look for answers to questions like “What is the most critical factor in the company-client relationship?” or “How to build a successful relationship with your new client?”. Over the years, many companies attempted to answer these questions, but we would argue that their answers often miss an important fact. All clients are unique, be it due to cultural differences or project needs, and those differences translate into how you manage your interactions with each client.
As daunting as it is not to have a clear answer, there are still practices that can help you increase your odds of success with your clients. After 18 years in the industry, we learned what you should prioritise in your relationship with your clients, and we are happy to share those insights with you.
We believe in the people-first business mindset that recognises the stakeholders on both sides of the relationship. It’s essential to ensuring satisfaction and happiness on both sides. You want your clients to be happy with the speed and quality of delivery as well as the communications and solutions provided. But you also want your team to feel excited for and challenged by the projects they are working on. Ultimately, those positive feelings strengthen your relationship with your clients and create a strong team.
How to ensure the happiness of your clients and your development team?
An excellent way to reach happiness is by choosing clients who share your viewpoint. From the get-go, it’s necessary to set the expectations that the sides are mutually responsible for the results of the project.
Do not look at it as – ‘ this is your job, and this is ours’ – you and your clients are in the same boat. The success of the project will be achieved together. This is especially true for long-term engagements and projects that require a high level of collaboration. But of course, this shared point of view is something that you must maintain throughout the collaboration.
How to maintain a mutual trust with your clients?
To maintain trust on both sides, you must showcase consistency and maximum effort. After all, relationships and projects are dynamic, and you need to adapt to find ways of bringing value to your clients and their projects.
But remember, consistency and effort should be more than just sheer output, for example, lines of code. While it’s true that you must deliver a quality product each time, you also have to use your expertise and help guide your clients to better solutions that solve their challenges.
Vilius Smalinskas
This article was written by TeleSoftas’s VP of Accounts. For more insights from Vilius, follow him on Linkedin.