Dan Englander is the CEO and founder of Sales Schema, a fractional new business team for marketing agencies. He is also the host of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast and author of Mastering Account Management and The B2B Sales Blueprint. In his spare time, he enjoys developing new aches and pains via Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
• Sales Schema Webinar

What You Will Learn:

• Dan’s story (2:46)
• Challenges for B2B businesses in 2021 (4:57)
• Building relationships with the client
• Reaching to the top-of-funnel
• Platforms to use (12:34)
• Email outreach
• Using email to generate leads: the winning approach (16:07)
• Looking for connections (20:08)
• The right people, the right system
• Splitting up your time
• Get in touch with Dan (27:29)

Your client relationships can be your biggest assets or your biggest liabilities.

What’s the difference between an asset and a liability?

At its most basic, an asset is something that puts money in your pocket while a liability costs you money. Assets are typically things that have a high monetary value. For freelancers, client relationships could be huge assets because of the potential for repeat work.

Another way to define assets is “anything of material benefit or worth.” If client relationships are your bread and butter, they are an asset because of how beneficial they are to your business.

On the other hand, client relationships can be a liability if you aren’t careful or don’t handle them properly. A client relationship can quickly go sour if you’re not meeting client needs, or if the client feels like their needs are not being met. A client might become dissatisfied and leave for another freelancer or business that offers a better product or service. And once they find someone else, it may be hard to get them back (if you even can get them back at all).

So client relationships can be a freelancer’s biggest assets or their biggest liability, and it boils down to how you handle them.

Employ these strategies for building client relationships that become long-term assets (and not liabilities) for your business.

1. Your client is the boss, not you

You may be an expert in your client’s industry, or know more about technology than they do. You may be the expert of all experts—but you’re not their client. They are (unless you’re also their client).

Your client hires you to make their life easier, not harder. Tell them what they want to hear, not what you think they should hear.

2. Listen to client needs and respond appropriately

Your client doesn’t want to feel like you’re just trying to make a quick buck at their expense. They want transparency and they want to know that you heard them correctly. If you don’t understand something, ask questions until the client feels understood—don’t guess or assume what they need.

If you don’t know how to respond to client requests, tell them so and ask for advice instead of making costly mistakes that can damage client relationships. The client’s first choice is always to help you do the job correctly and avoid extra work and costs on their end.

3. Don’t put out fires—put out your client’s fires

Your client is busy. They have deadlines, projects, and their own client relationships to manage. If something goes wrong with your client relationship, it’s not likely that they’ll come to you first with the problem—they’re more likely to try to find a solution on their own before escalating the issue beyond you both.

But when this happens, you need to take the client relationship seriously. If something is wrong, fix it as soon as possible. Don’t let client issues fester—it only makes the client more upset and dissatisfied with your work.

4. Keep client relationships positive

Your client wants to feel appreciated. They want to know that you’re looking after their best interests and want to do everything in your power to meet client needs. If you’re not doing this, it could damage client relationships and lead to client dissatisfaction.

5. Give clients top priority

Your client relationships should always take priority over any other work that’s going on when deadlines approach or when client communication is necessary. You can’t manage client relationships in your client’s time—you have to pick up when they do and respond immediately.

Dan Mentality – Quotes From the Show

“It’s about the degree of personalization”

“De-risk the conversation”

“It’s about finding the right way to break in”

“The inbox is like a big trade show”

“People are the foundation for everything”