Caroline Graham, Assistant Account Executive, attended this year’s IPREX Account Leaders Bootcamp. Hosted by Vehr Communications in Cincinnati, OH, all topics evolved around leading your client and ensuring you’re always one step ahead.
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you,” said Jim Rohn, a motivational speaker. This quote was used throughout the day and it truly resonated with me.
While leading your client is always at the forefront of your day, there are other key day-to-day items that shouldn’t be allowed to slip through the cracks. Building a relationship with your clients is key to success because it leads to trust, which is the key ingredient to a happy relationship. If your client doesn’t trust you and the decisions you make behind the scenes, it will be hard to think bigger and find success together in the long run. Below are six tips for developing successful relationships with your clients:
- Be proactive: Stay one step ahead of not only your clients, but yourself, too
- Ask questions: This will help you take in as much information as possible and show the client you are thinking about and analyzing their business
- Integrate the internal team: Make sure someone else knows every piece of information you do about the account
- Don’t listen to respond, listen to understand: With this mindset, you will be able to think critically in the situation rather than just respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’
- Don’t just market the brand, market your client: Think outside of the box for new ways to market your client as an industry leader
- Know what your client is thinking: This will help you be more proactive and provide smarter counsel
Whether you’re the lead on an account or working as a team member, remember to ask yourself this one question… are you letting the day run you, or are you running the day?
By: Caroline Graham; Assistant Account Executive