Beyond Transactions: How to Build Lasting Client Partnerships

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Want to deliver extraordinary customer care that leads to client retention? Wondering how your approach to customer experience leads to tangible outcomes like increased sales, customer retention, and referrals?

In the article, you’ll discover practical ways to improve relationships with your clients.

Beyond Transactions: How to Build Lasting Client Partnerships by Social Media Examiner
This article was co-created by Dan Gingiss, Brooke Sellas, and Lisa D. Jenkins. For more about Dan, scroll to Other Notes From This Episode at the end of this article.
Keeping the Customer First: Insights from “The Experience Maker”
Providing a remarkable customer experience is imperative for companies to gain loyal, vocal fans who drive growth through referrals and repeat business. With competition fiercer than ever before, customer-centric organizations have a clear edge.

Keynote speaker, author, and leading customer experience authority Dan Gingiss offers invaluable insights on how companies large and small can shift to a customer-focused mindset. He also discusses common mistakes companies make around data and customer feedback and key considerations for marketing agencies.

Building Long-Lasting Client Relationships Through Extraordinary Customer Experiences
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This mindset should then permeate throughout your organization. Dan says providing exceptional customer experiences should be a part of your business’s culture, and every employee should feel enabled to have it as part of their job.

He believes that “extraordinary” doesn’t have to mean over-the-top gestures like hiring Beyonce for a private concert. Instead, he says, “extraordinary simply means a little bit better than ordinary.” The reason? Most of the time, your competitors are ordinary. Thus, going above and

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While traditional marketing has its place, Dan argues that nothing beats the impact of clients voluntarily advocating for your product. He says providing experiences worthy of word-of-mouth promotion should be a key goal for all customer-centric brands.

#3: Adopt a Customer-Focused Mindset
The key to a customer-first mindset is constantly wearing the “customer hat” in all decisions.

Early in Dan’s career, MasterCard recruited him to head digital customer experience and social media because they noticed he already naturally considered business problems from the customer perspective, even though he’d only been a marketer for the company for 10 years. Dan realized that not everyone thinks that way by default, but customer-centric decisions yield better results.

Imagine an airline executive suggesting charging bag fees just to make billions in extra revenue without any client consideration—despite customers being a company’s #1 asset. This contempt can breed resentment. Instead, they could have provided value in return for a fee, like guaranteeing a convenience like faster bag delivery. Customers accept reasonable revenue needs but expect value in exchange for higher prices.

Dan says to approach every choice by thinking, “How would our customers react?” That’s wearing the customer hat. Consider your own everyday brand interactions, too. What frustrates you or delights you as a consumer? Apply that first-hand customer empathy to your own business decisions.

An action that doesn’t offer clear value will degrade loyalty and trust. But choices driven by customer benefit also drive growth, retention, and referrals.

Experiencing Your Business as Your Customers Would
Delivering a standout customer experience requires both empathy and an external orientation.

Dan believes businesses should experience their own company as a customer would. For example, most dentist offices typically place their entrance in the back of the building so dentists can arrive right before appointments without walking through waiting patients.

But avoiding the front door day-to-day prevents them from noticing issues like fingerprints on the front door or outdated reading material—problems a patient would observe. Suppose your agency doesn't have a physical location. You still need to view your website, app, contracts, invoices, etc., through the eyes of a customer rather than an owner. When you get too close to your own materials, Dan says you miss opportunities for improvement.

So, thoroughly explore your website or have someone else do it objectively. It's hugely valuable to see your business from the outside rather than assuming your existing client perspective is enough. “Become a customer of your own company” by observing your materials fresh or through someone else's eyes. It will uncover personalization opportunities you can't see otherwise.

Dan also stressed examining every client interaction or touch point—no matter how small—for improvement opportunities. Not everything has to be exceptional, but take note of interactions that feel “blah.” Turning something unremarkable into something special can greatly enhance perceived personalization.

Little personal touches make a difference, like when a meal delivery box includes a surprise joke or note or when Snapple prints quotes inside their bottle caps. It likely took minimal effort to add and cost nothing extra laos telegram yet it's part of the experience and delights the customer. Those little wow moments demonstrate true client understanding and make your business stand out.

Thinking Creatively About How to Combine AI and Your Customer Experience
Dan believes the key is viewing technology as complementary to humans rather than a replacement. Early chatbots aimed to eliminate service reps but couldn't match human engagement. Today's best automation tools hand off to a person when they get stuck.

So, think creatively about how to combine artificial intelligence (AI) and people. Dan uses ChatGPT to rewrite his existing content for new industries rather than saying, ” Write this for me.” For example, he might write something for a retail client. Then, he’ll ask AI to help reword it for a construction industry client so they can understand it.

AI enhances human work rather than substituting it. Keep that human+tech partnership in mind; AI can elevate customer experience instead of damaging it. Treat it as a tool to assist and empower employees, not replace them.

#4: Actively Seek Customer Feedback
The most insightful feedback comes straight from the source—the customers themselves.