I recently had the opportunity to attend my first InboundTO meet-up hosted by the team at Powered by Search. The theme for this month’s meet-up was The Essentials of Client Communication. Here at VA Partners, we work with a wide range of clients so I found this topic to be especially interesting.

The event was split into two main topics, and were discussed through a variety of mediums including presentations, workshops and small group discussions. The first was about tools for internal and client communication, including Slack and Teamwork. The second, and the one I want to elaborate on in this post, was on how to build and maintain a positive and trusting relationship with clients through communications.

Here are my biggest take-ways in regards to building great client communication.

1. Avoid Over Promising

Instead over deliver. There’s nothing better than delighting customers with unexpected perks. Before you take on or sign-off on a project communicate with your internal team, and determine if the scope of the project is possible. To make sure the scope is adhered to put it down on paper. Make an assessment that is fair and true to your organizations abilities. To do this, you may want to think back to similar project you’ve worked and use those procedures as a guide. You can also break down a project into smaller sections or tasks to ensure your are capable of completing all aspects.

2. Empower your Requests

One of the toughest things that come with managing clients is determining the balance between catering to clients needs and your teams needs. This middle-man role often requires you to make decisions that benefits of hopefully both parties. Due to the nature of this position, it’s important to make bold decisions and be able to stick to them. So when it come to requesting information, tasks or other deliverables both from your team and your clients, you need to do so in an empowered way.

3. Read Between the Lines

Depending on the client you’re interacting with, a lot can be said about what is not said. There are a number of other factors you need to consider to get the full picture of what the client is attempting to communicate. These factors include reading body language, gauging interest, and catching hesitations. For example, a client may say that you had delivered what they were looking for, however if you noticed they seemed distracted by the conversation, you may need to probe further to get a better understanding. In many cases, the medium that is used to communicate can also require you to read between the lines. For instance cues over email communication, a phone call and in-person meeting can greatly differ.

4. Maintain Positivity

Throughout any client communication it’s important to maintain positivity. This point was driven home in the event through the workshop which encouraged attendees to share their own “horror stories” that resulted with “epic saves” when it came to client communication. As more real-life instances were shared, it became evident that even the worst client communication situations can be rectified by moving forward and taking on a positivity (sometimes humorous) spin on the situation. Building trust and delivering on an all around good experience for clients is key to success.

If you’d like to check out more start-up and small business events in the Toronto and southern Ontario, check out our monthly events blog.