It Starts With Clients

Day 100 Keep Your Clients for Life

The beauty of staying in touch

A few years ago, I received a phone call from an old client of mine. It had been five years since we had worked together. We had periodically been in touch, but there was never a compelling reason to reengage. The reason for the call? He had just read my newsletter, Client Loyalty, and wanted to discuss a project. My article that month happened to be about an urgent challenge his firm faced.

It turned out that during those five years, he had always read the subject lines for my newsletter emails. Once in a while, when one piqued his interest, he opened the email and read it. Now, finally, the stars had aligned. My chosen topic that month, and the value I provided in the article, matched an important need of his.

I used to be preoccupied with the sad fact that for years, some clients seemed to pay no attention to my newsletter. But after many incidents like this one, where someone would contact me after a long period of silence, I realized something very powerful was at work.

I call it the “radar screen theory of selling.” You need to stay on your clients’ radar screen. You have to be top of mind when they have a need in your area of expertise. Or, as one of my clients once told me, “You have to be there when the dam breaks.”

So stay connected, with both current and past clients, in meaningful ways. Keep your ...