Isn’t this the truth? We spend inordinate amounts of time prospecting and trying to win new clients yet significantly less time nurturing and WOWING these same clients in order to retain and grow their business.

It’s an endless cycle for many businesses.

You prospect like crazy and win some new business and then before too long the “honeymoon” is over and the cycle starts all over again. Prospect, win, lose. Prospect, win, lose.

It’s costly, time consuming and will ultimately undermine your business growth.

The answer – well – it’s pretty simple. Rather than churn your clients why not WOW them and hence the need for as rigorous prospecting may diminish just a bit.

Here are three ways that you can WOW your clients right now:

Don’t deliver good work; EXCEED THEIR EXPECTATIONS and provide great work

Doing good work is pretty much an expectation, isn’t it? I mean no one ever said they were going to do a ho-hum job so why is it that when we deliver good work we think it is enough. It’s not, good work is an expectation and what a smart business wants to do is EXCEED their client’s expectations. It’s a wise strategy to define the expectations right from the get-go so that you are aware of what the clients deems as “good” work. Armed with that information you can now make certain that you hit it out of the park, over deliver and exceed their expectations.

Good communication helps the WOW factor

Clients like to be kept apprised of what is going on with their project and can turn downright nasty if they feel as if they are being kept in the dark. In this case no news is good news might not hold true and so it’s a good idea to ask your client how they would like to receive their progress reports. (This question alone might WOW them!) Are they comfortable with email or would a weekly phone call be preferable? What’s the frequency that works best? Some clients need to be “touched” more frequently than others; some prefer less communication. Ask them what they’d like and get their agreement on how you should proceed. (That’s good communication!)

Say thanks when they least expect it

What ever happened to “thank you?” I don’t know about you but it seems to have fallen into disfavor and client relationships are almost taken for granted. A “thank you” can take the form of a hand written note, a small token of appreciation sent to the individual client or their staff (lunch brought in for the office, a fruit basket, movie tickets, etc.) or a discount or “extra” that is applied to their work. Everyone likes to feel appreciated and a thank you ensures that your client won’t feel forgotten.

Do you remember how hard you worked to win this client? If you keep that top of mind you won’t forget to work just as hard to retain their business and WOW them every step of the way.