How to Strengthen Client Communication

Client communication is a crucial consideration for businesses in all industries; unfortunately, many businesses ignore it in favor of other activities that provide higher short-term profits. By taking the time to improve communication across your organization, you can build stronger client relationships that will pay off in the long term.

For communications professionals, it can be a struggle to convince other departments to spend time working on client communication. As a result, engagement is usually the first step in creating better communication practices. Hold a meeting with each department to talk about ways they can improve communication; ask for suggestions and involve each person in the process so that it feels like a team effort. Talk through the sales process and identify points where communication is key, and identify the areas of the communication process that are weak or ignored.

With the information from each departmental meeting, you can create schedules and strategies that are specific to each group. If the sales team needs to improve communication after the product is delivered, for example, create a follow-up schedule. If the development team has trouble soliciting feedback during the design process, recommend they touch base with clients on a set schedule. In many cases, a specific communication schedule will be enough to remind your colleagues to reach out to clients on a regular basis. As a result, clients will receive frequent updates and have multiple opportunities to ask questions or provide feedback.

For some companies, the quality of communication is more of an issue than the frequency of communication. In many cases, poor client relationships result from a lack of communications skills. If you find that your colleagues are damaging relationships because of poor phone etiquette or inadequate listening skills, for example, it can be helpful to hold a brief training session to improve communication. During the session, don't single out individuals for their poor communications skills because doing so can make colleagues defensive and closed off.

Instead, offer suggestions that can help everyone in the office improve communication. Emphasize the importance of listening carefully to clients as a way to get to the heart of their needs. Recommend that your colleagues offer valuable information to clients as soon as it comes up: exciting industry news, events that may affect the client's business, or potentially valuable new industry contacts, for example. Suggest that colleagues develop a working knowledge of the client's industry and jargon to make communication easier. If you are talking about sensitive or complex topics like client data security, Tech Insurance recommends breaking down the subject and explaining carefully how it applies to the individual client. You can also advise colleagues to provide simple, concrete solutions to clients' problems.

By taking steps to improve communication with clients, you can help your colleagues build new skills. In addition, you will help improve customer confidence and build lasting, profitable relationships.

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