1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,320 So hopefully I've convinced you the value of repeat business. 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,400 Now, the next question obviously is, "How do you win it? 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,970 How do you keep clients coming back for more?" 4 00:00:08,970 --> 00:00:14,700 But the obvious thing is to focus on quality which seems so obvious. 5 00:00:14,700 --> 00:00:17,970 But when you're working with a client on an ongoing basis, 6 00:00:17,970 --> 00:00:21,090 it's easy to let quality slip over time. 7 00:00:21,090 --> 00:00:24,860 You begin to take that client for granted. You really can't do that. 8 00:00:24,860 --> 00:00:30,040 That's when you'll lose them so make sure you focus on quality all the time. 9 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,790 Another thing I find really useful for keeping clients coming back 10 00:00:33,790 --> 00:00:36,830 is to do a post project debrief. 11 00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:39,260 So when a project ends, 12 00:00:39,260 --> 00:00:42,330 make sure you sit down with the client and talk about the project, 13 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,130 talk about what went well and what didn't go so well. 14 00:00:45,130 --> 00:00:49,090 But also, talk about the future and what's coming next. 15 00:00:49,090 --> 00:00:52,750 Get the client all the time looking forward. 16 00:00:52,750 --> 00:00:55,660 And often, this will happen naturally anyway. 17 00:00:55,660 --> 00:00:59,850 We'll talk about scope tree in a future video 18 00:00:59,850 --> 00:01:04,050 but one way of dealing with scope tree is to write down those ideas 19 00:01:04,050 --> 00:01:06,160 and say let's do in the next phase. 20 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,180 Well, here is a great example of that. 21 00:01:08,330 --> 00:01:10,080 This is where you cash in on that 22 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,660 because you can then come back in your post project debrief and say-- 23 00:01:14,660 --> 00:01:17,210 "Look, these are the ideas we had. Let's do them now!" 24 00:01:17,350 --> 00:01:21,170 Do regular reviews as well with customers. 25 00:01:21,170 --> 00:01:25,110 Sit down with them, you know, once a year. Or once every 6 months. 26 00:01:25,110 --> 00:01:28,580 Or once every 3 months. Whenever it is right and review where there site is at. 27 00:01:28,580 --> 00:01:33,210 And make sure that you have suggestions about where it should go in the future. 28 00:01:33,210 --> 00:01:36,980 Essentially what you're doing is trying to maintain a conversation. 29 00:01:36,980 --> 00:01:39,030 You're keeping talking to them. 30 00:01:39,030 --> 00:01:41,750 Keep them informed about latest innovations. 31 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,610 Now you might want to do that with a newsletter 32 00:01:44,610 --> 00:01:46,560 that goes out to all of your clients. 33 00:01:46,670 --> 00:01:51,310 But if you do that, make sure you also talk to some clients personally as well. 34 00:01:51,310 --> 00:01:54,470 Newsletters are great but they are a bit impersonal 35 00:01:54,470 --> 00:01:59,600 and it's really important to make suggestions for people-specific sites. 36 00:01:59,900 --> 00:02:04,360 Finally, show them what you've done with other clients. 37 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,160 If you've done something cool within a particular sector 38 00:02:07,350 --> 00:02:10,220 say if you're focusing on charities for example. 39 00:02:10,220 --> 00:02:13,170 You do one great thing for one charity site. 40 00:02:13,170 --> 00:02:15,790 Show another charity client that 41 00:02:15,790 --> 00:02:18,430 and suggest that they might want to do the same. 42 00:02:20,990 --> 00:02:25,710 One of the most important things when it comes to repeat business 43 00:02:25,710 --> 00:02:29,320 is to be going above and beyond in what you're delivering. 44 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:34,050 If the client feels that you are giving them real value for service, 45 00:02:34,050 --> 00:02:36,050 then they will keep back coming to you. 46 00:02:36,050 --> 00:02:38,180 So you have to go above and beyond. 47 00:02:38,180 --> 00:02:42,410 So one of the things that we do is we are conservative in our estimates. 48 00:02:42,410 --> 00:02:45,370 So what we will do is estimate 49 00:02:45,370 --> 00:02:51,080 that a project is going to take longer than may be we think it really will. 50 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,450 And then we come in on to that and that impresses clients. 51 00:02:54,450 --> 00:02:57,110 That gives them the feeling we're going above and beyond. 52 00:02:57,110 --> 00:03:01,010 Being proactive too is another great way of going above and beyond. 53 00:03:01,010 --> 00:03:05,310 So saying to clients, "Hey, why don't we do this? This should be a great feature. 54 00:03:05,310 --> 00:03:07,390 This should be a great idea." 55 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:10,030 Now, most of your clients doesn't always have the budget 56 00:03:10,030 --> 00:03:12,200 to pay for these additional ideas. 57 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:16,050 But you know what? Occasionally, I do that extra work for free. 58 00:03:16,050 --> 00:03:18,610 Not all the time because we don't want the client 59 00:03:18,610 --> 00:03:21,000 to get used to you doing work for them for free. 60 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,760 But every now and again it's worth it. It's worth it to make the website better. 61 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,500 But it's also worth it in order to show the client 62 00:03:28,500 --> 00:03:30,830 that you're going that extra mile for them. 63 00:03:30,830 --> 00:03:33,290 But if you are going to do extra work for them for free 64 00:03:33,290 --> 00:03:35,540 make sure you tell them you're doing that 65 00:03:35,540 --> 00:03:40,010 because the client needs to know that you're going that extra mile. 66 00:03:40,010 --> 00:03:46,770 Now, the problem with repeat business is that you can find you become very reliant 67 00:03:46,770 --> 00:03:51,140 on a single client and this can be dangerous to your business. 68 00:03:51,140 --> 00:03:55,950 You got to be careful that if you're just working with one client all the time 69 00:03:56,030 --> 00:03:59,520 and they make up such a big part of your business 70 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,680 then if they go away you're stuffed. 71 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:08,630 So be very careful when working with just one or two really big clients. 72 00:04:08,630 --> 00:04:12,920 And to be honest, you're going to need to sit down with them and discuss it openly. 73 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,310 Talk about the fact that it's a problem for your business 74 00:04:16,310 --> 00:04:20,899 but it is also potentially a problem for them that they're so reliant on one supplier. 75 00:04:20,899 --> 00:04:27,650 You might want to consider actually in such situations outsourcing some of that work 76 00:04:27,650 --> 00:04:33,270 that you manage and you still have the relationship but using other people 77 00:04:33,270 --> 00:04:37,610 so that you can develop other clients alongside that main client. 78 00:04:37,610 --> 00:04:41,530 But that said, repeat business is the way to go. 79 00:04:41,530 --> 00:04:46,710 It will make such a difference and you really need to be working on it right now 80 00:04:46,710 --> 00:04:50,670 to ensure that your clients keep coming back for more.