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SOP 211: How to Client engagement playbook

Goal: 
Improve client interactions' quality while building stronger and more long-lasting relationships with clients.

Ideal Outcome: 
To drive business performance and success by building brand reputation and creating a positive, consistent experience for a successful long-term business relationship with clients.

Prerequisites or requirements: 

Understand the organization’s goals and objectives, know the target audience, and clearly define roles and responsibilities with performance metrics and KPIs.

Why this is important: 
The purpose of the Client Engagement Playbook is to engage with clients and ensure a consistent, high-quality client experience. It outlines the critical steps for building and maintaining solid client relationships and provides guidelines for effective communication and collaboration.

Where this is done: 
During an employee training ground for new and existing employees.

When is this done: 
Whenever a new employee is hired or during an employee training.

Who does this: 
The Client Engagement Playbook is used by employees typically trained by their managers involved in client engagement, such as sales, customer service, account management, and project management.

Useful templates

  1. Client Engagement Planning Checklist
  2. Client Feedback and Survey Questionnaire
  3. Client Offboarding Checklist
  4. Client Monthly Meeting Script
  5. Client Onboarding Questionnaire

Overview

  1. Building Relationships with Clients
    • Understanding your clients
    • Building Trust
    • Effective communication
    • Personalizing your approach
    • Managing expectations
    • Resolving conflicts
2. Collaborating with Clients
    • Managing projects and deliverables
      • Project pitch, onboard, mid-project, completion, and follow-up
    • Tracking progress and performance
    • Solving problems and mitigating risks
3. Tips For Maintaining Strong Relationships with Clients
    • Providing exceptional customer service
    • Delivering value and meeting expectations
    • Continuously improving the client experience
    • Staying in touch and building loyalty

Building Relationships with Clients

  1. Understanding your client: Start by understanding your client's needs, goals, and preferences. Get to know their company culture, business challenges, and how they make decisions. This will help you tailor your approach to their specific needs.
    Gather information:
  • Research their company and industry
  • Study their website and social media profiles
  • Look for recent news and press releases
  • Identify their key stakeholders and decision-makers
Ask questions:
  • Schedule a discovery call or in-person meeting
  • Ask about their current challenges and priorities
  • Get to know their communication preferences
  • Learn about their decision-making process
Listen actively:
  • Pay attention to what they say and how they say it
  • Ask follow-up questions to understand their needs better
  • Show that you are engaged and interested
  • Avoid interrupting or finishing their sentences
Analyze the information:
  • Look for patterns and trends
  • Identify their pain points and areas of opportunity
  • Evaluate how you can add value to their business
5. Document the information:

2. Building trust: Building trust with clients is vital to developing a solid relationship. This involves being transparent, responsive, and delivering on your promises. Act with integrity, be honest and listen to their concerns.

Be transparent: You may use this template for a client engagement planning checklist to be upfront about your intentions and expectations and clearly communicate what you can and can't deliver. Be honest about potential roadblocks or challenges, keep your promises, and follow through on your commitments.

Provide value and build rapport: Consider using our client-centralized database template to get to know them individually. Identify ways to add value to their business and offer solutions and ideas to address their pain points. It is recommended to share your experiences and perspectives, find common ground and build relationships. Probe for the right questions.

Communicate regularly: Put yourself in their shoes and listen to their needs and concerns. Asking for feedback and sharing concerns with one another helps to foster client relationships. Respond in a way that addresses their emotions and interests and remember to send regular updates and follow up on their needs. Effective communication is the foundation of any strong relationship. Make sure you understand your client's communication preferences and take the time to articulate your message clearly. Use active listening, ask questions, and be open to feedback.

4. Personalizing your approach: Every client is unique, and a one-size-fits-all approach won't work. Tailor your approach to each client's specific needs, preferences, and personality. This could involve adjusting your communication style, meeting schedule, or even the solutions you offer.
    1. Arrange for a kickoff call meeting to manage expectations. Be sure to explicitly define what the client can expect from your services or products, including the project's scope, timeline, budget, and other relevant details.
    2. Send a welcome gift accompanied by a client onboarding questionnaire.
    3. Schedule monthly catch-up meetings with your client(s) to manage expectations. Be sure to plan ahead by using this client meeting monthly planning sheet. For further guidance, refer to client monthly meeting script.
    4. Consider project management software tools such as Asana, ClickUp, and Trello to keep track of client interactions and updates. Follow the project stages by clicking on the checkboxes in Collaborating with Clients.
    5. Consider a help desk ticketing solution such as zoho, oodoo, and freshworks for your clients to raise a concern/task directly to your teammates.
    6. Follow up regularly by Asking for feedback and sharing concerns with one another.
    7. When your team has successfully completed a project, the Client Offboarding Checklist is important because it helps maintain professionalism, facilitate a smooth transition, maintain goodwill, retain knowledge, complete the project, and improve processes. Offboarding marks the end of a project and provides an opportunity to review and improve processes, gather feedback, and maintain a positive relationship with the client, which can lead to future business opportunities.

    5. Tips To Resolving Conflicts: Resolving conflicts with clients is crucial for maintaining a positive and productive relationship and ensuring customer satisfaction and a stronger working relationship.
    1. Listen to the client's concerns: Listen actively to understand the client's point of view and the root cause of the conflict.
Acknowledge the client's feelings: Validate the client's emotions and concerns to show empathy and build rapport.
  • Find a mutually acceptable solution: Work with the client to find a solution that addresses their concerns and meets the needs of both parties.
  • Communicate the resolution: Clearly and concisely communicate the agreed-upon resolution to the client to ensure understanding and prevent future misunderstandings.
  • Follow-up: After the resolution, check in with the client to ensure the agreement is upheld and address any additional concerns.
  • Document the conflict and resolution: Document the conflict and the resolution for future reference to help identify and prevent similar conflicts.

Collaborating with Clients

  1. Managing Projects and Deliverables: Managing projects and deliverables helps to ensure that projects are completed on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of all stakeholders, including clients. Maintaining control over tasks and deliverables reduces project failure risk, and clients receive the desired outcome and value from their investment. Use the checkboxes below to determine your project status.
    • Stage 1: Project pitch
      • Research the client and their industry to understand their needs and challenges.
      • Prepare a customized pitch that highlights your company's strengths and how they align with the client's needs.
      • Clearly communicate the value proposition and benefits of working with your company.
      • Anticipate potential objections and have counter-arguments ready
      • Practice your pitch several times to build confidence and ensure seamless delivery.
      • Send a creative portfolio of your best work.
    • Stage 2: Project Onboard
      • Clearly outline the project scope and expectations
      • Set up regular communication channels with the client and stakeholders
      • Establish clear roles and responsibilities for both parties
      • Obtain necessary approvals and signatures for the project agreement
      • Schedule regular check-ins to monitor progress and ensure the project is on track.
      • [Suggestion for leadership team/managers] Create a unique onboarding package with all the tools they’ll need to best work and collaborate with your team
      • Consider project management software tools such as Asana, ClickUp, and Trello.
    • Stage 3: Mid-Project
      • Monitor progress and performance against project milestones and KPIs
      • Address any roadblocks or challenges promptly
      • Communicate updates and changes to the client as they occur
      • Provide regular reports and insights to the client on project progress
      • Foster a collaborative environment to keep the project moving forward
      • Consider what events overlap with your project timeline (holidays, birthdays, etc.), and remember to send something special
      • Send a mid-project congratulations when you are halfway through a milestone
    • Stage 4: Project Completion
      • Complete all outstanding tasks and deliverables on time
      • Ensure the final product meets the client's expectations
      • Obtain final approval from the client
      • Conduct a thorough review of the project to identify lessons learned and opportunities for improvement.
      • Provide the client with all relevant documentation and materials for future reference.
      • Turn the completed project into a case study.
      • Review what worked and what didn’t work out, and consider you can be better in the next project.
    • Stage 5: Project Follow-up
      • Schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss the project outcome and gather feedback.
      • Address any post-project issues and resolve them promptly
      • Acknowledge the client's contribution and express gratitude for the opportunity to work with them
      • Encourage the client to share their experience with others
      • Maintain regular communication and foster a long-lasting relationship.
      • Send out emails to receive feedback
      • Consider a referral discount for the next project
2. Tracking Progress and Performance: Tracking progress and performance identifies strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement and helps to determine whether goals and objectives are being met. Monitoring progress and performance makes it possible to make adjustments and course corrections in real-time, ensuring that projects remain on track and that goals are achieved.
    • Establish performance metrics
    • Regularly track progress and performance against goals
    • Provide feedback and coaching as needed
    • Identify and address any performance gaps
3. Solving Problems and Mitigating Risks: Solving problems and mitigating risks helps prevent potential issues from becoming more extensive and costly. Identifying and addressing problems early on reduces the risk of failure and improves the overall success of the project or engagement.
    • Identify potential problems and risks.
    • Develop contingency plans
    • Monitor and assess risk levels
    • Implement corrective actions as needed
    • Continuously review and improve processes to minimize risks and problems in the future.

Tips For Maintaining Strong Relationships with Clients

  1. Providing exceptional customer service is crucial in building and maintaining strong client relationships. It helps to establish trust and create a positive impression of the organization.

    Listen to customer needs and concerns:
  • Paying attention to what the customer is saying and understanding their needs is essential in providing quality customer service.
Respond promptly and professionally to inquiries:
  • Responding to customer inquiries promptly and professionally helps create a positive impression and build trust.
Provide clear and accurate information:
  • Giving clear information helps eliminate confusion and ensure that the customer has the information they need to make informed decisions.
Solve problems effectively and efficiently:
  • Being able to resolve customer issues quickly and effectively helps to minimize frustration and maintain a positive relationship.
2. Delivering value and meeting expectations are critical for building and maintaining solid client relationships. It demonstrates a commitment to providing high-quality products or services and fulfilling promises made.
    1. Clearly communicate expectations and deliverables:
      • This involves setting clear expectations for what the customer can expect from your services, products, or projects. This includes defining the scope of work, timelines, and any other relevant information that the customer needs to know to understand what they will receive clearly.
    1. Meet or exceed customer expectations:
      • This means providing the customer with what was promised or even going above and beyond their expectations to ensure their satisfaction. It is essential to continuously assess and evaluate customer expectations to ensure they are met or exceeded.
    1. Continuously seek feedback and improvement opportunities:
      • This involves regularly seeking customer feedback on their experience and constantly using it to improve and enhance the customer experience. This helps build a relationship of trust and confidence with the customer and can help identify improvement opportunities.

3. Continuously improving the client experience is important because it helps to build strong relationships with customers and retain their loyalty. An exceptional customer experience helps differentiate a business from its competitors and increases customer satisfaction and retention. The following points describe how to improve the client experience continuously:

Regularly review customer satisfaction and experience:

  • Regularly surveying customers and evaluating their experience helps to identify areas for improvement and track progress over time.
2. Continuously identify and implement opportunities to improve:
  • Continuously seeking feedback and identifying opportunities to improve the customer experience helps to stay ahead of the competition and maintain customer loyalty.
[Suggestion for leadership team/business owners] Invest in technology and resources to enhance the customer experience:
  • Investing in technology and resources such as a customer relationship management (CRM) system, live chat, or self-service portals helps streamline processes and improve the customer experience.

4. Staying in touch and building loyalty with clients is crucial as it helps establish a solid and long-lasting relationship. This not only benefits the client by ensuring they receive consistent, high-quality service but also benefits the business by fostering customer retention and creating opportunities for repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals. Building trust and respect with clients through regular communication and exceptional service can lead to increased loyalty and a more sustainable customer base.


Regularly communicate with customers and stakeholders:

  • This involves staying in touch with your customers through various channels such as email, phone, or in-person meetings. Regular communication helps you understand their needs and concerns and provide updates on their projects' progress.
Build relationships based on trust and respect:
  • Building strong relationships with customers is crucial in retaining their loyalty. This involves listening to their needs and concerns, being transparent, and treating them with respect and professionalism.
Provide added value and exceptional service to retain customers and foster loyalty:
  • To retain and foster loyalty, it is vital to provide exceptional customer service and add value to their experience. This can be achieved through tailored solutions, timely project delivery, and responsiveness to their needs.