Loyal clients are what you want! It doesn’t matter if you run a law firm, a podiatry practice, or another kind of business. Your loyal clients will come back to you in the future for guidance. They’ll leave positive reviews. They’ll tell their friends and family about you and keep sending all kinds of word-of-mouth referrals your way.

Every first-time client that you turn into a long-time client reduces the amount of work you have to do to keep your business successful for generations. But how do you retain loyal clients and constantly add to the number of happy people singing your praises and filling your appointment book? We’ll share our 5 best tips with you below.

1. Show That You Care About Their Long-Term Success

People generally choose lawyers and doctors only a few times in their lives. They’re likely to stick with you for decades if they have a good experience. If you can show that you care about them even after they’ve resolved their issues, they’ll feel good about their choice and be hesitant to switch.

I know business owners that have clients drive in from 2 hours away because they have that relationship of trust and don’t want to risk trying to find someone locally!

The good news is that it isn’t all that hard to show that you care. It can be a simple check-in email that goes out a few weeks after they’ve resolved an issue with your help. It can be a quick meeting to tie up loose ends and answer questions before they complete their recovery at home or move forward after the resolution of a case. Even a quick birthday card once a year can show that you still think about them and hope they’re doing well.

You may have tons of clients, but each of them sees you as the one person they can turn to for a specific kind of problem. If you show your investment in your clients’ success even after they leave your office, they’ll keep coming back to you and recommending you to other people that need help.

Here are some more ideas for showing love for the clients that love you.

2. Prioritize Your Client Support and Client Experience

This one should be a no-brainer. If you want to retain more clients and build more long-term relationships, they have to have a great experience with you the first time and every time. This is why it’s so important to look at the whole client experience, not just the experience they have when they’re sitting in your office or working with you personally.

What’s your intake process like? What happens if they have a question or problem? How’s the experience when they call your office or speak to an after-hours receptionist? What’s it like to visit your website or receive your email campaigns? How do they find out about your new services or offerings?

You want to create a cohesive brand experience, whether they’re engaging with you online or one on one. It’s also helpful to segment your existing clients into specific groups—for example, by demographics, type of service they received, or geographical location. This will help you target your contacts more specifically and offer a memorable client experience that is tailored to each group’s needs and interests.

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3. Get Involved in the Causes That Matter to Them

Building a great client relationship and providing an awesome experience are the baseline. If you really want to go the extra mile, start getting involved in the causes that your clients care about. People stick with brands that they feel represent them or have a positive impact on the world. So, when you get involved in something bigger than yourself, everybody wins.

If you’re a personal injury attorney, it might be working with a charity for the victims of drunk drivers. If you’re an estate planning attorney, it might be offering an annual free seminar that helps new parents plan for the future. If you’re a podiatrist, you might join a 5k run for charity or offer free screenings and education at local events.

And, no matter what kind of business you are, hometown causes are always a great way to show that you care about the community and the people you serve. Whether it’s a holiday toy drive, sponsoring a youth sports team, or a donation that helps keep a local park open, you’ll get back what you give back.

While you’re at it, try these strategies for getting better online visibility and backlinks from these kinds of opportunities.

4. Meet Them and Greet Them Everywhere They Are

You can’t just lay out an awesome experience using the tips above and hope that clients will come to you. Instead, you have to be proactive about meeting them where they are. When they see your law firm or medical practice on the same sites they use every day, it’s an opportunity to keep building a relationship of retention and a great reminder that you’re still here to help.

So, break outside of just your website. Use social media and video to your full advantage. Reach out with targeted email campaigns, and send a regular email newsletter to keep everyone in the loop. Create a sense of community that reaches across platforms and into the wider world.

Everyone is a little different as far as when and where they’d prefer to engage with you. If you can create an awesome personalized experience for your existing clients across multiple popular channels, you’ll automatically build the “sticking power” you’re looking for.

5. Don’t Shy Away From Asking for Feedback

Asking your existing clients for feedback is a powerful strategy for increasing client retention and loyalty. So, don’t be afraid to ask! By actively soliciting feedback from clients, you’ll gain valuable insights into their preferences, pain points, and experiences. You can then use that knowledge to improve your services, enhance the client experience, and build stronger relationships.

Seeking feedback also demonstrates your commitment to your clients and your willingness to listen to their needs. Your clients will feel valued and heard, and that helps you build more trust and loyalty. It also gives you a chance to address any concerns or dissatisfaction that could get in the way of your ability to retain clients over the long term.

Even better, you can leverage positive client feedback as “social proof” that attracts new clients and further builds your reputation as a great business to work with.

Bonus Tip: Never Stop Working on It!

Creating a loyal client base isn’t something you do once and promptly forget about. Instead, it’s something that you always should be working on throughout the lifetime of your business. There’s a lot that goes into building your brand, retaining loyal clients, and positioning yourself for success. And you have to keep up with it all to make it work for you.

Looking for an accountability partner to keep you on the right track? Need expert guidance to make your business the best it can be? Whether you want to retain more of your perfect clients, attract more clients to a new service, or just keep everything going in the right direction, you’ll get more out of everything you do when you work with a marketing coach that is as dedicated to your goals as you are.