Got the scoop on your clients? Use that information to build relationships

Once upon a time, I took a break from my journalism career. I was burned out. My husband had a great job he was excited about and we had started a family so we wouldn’t be moving to another community any time soon. So that ruled out a change of scenery and new issues to report on, and after more than a decade in the news business I was tired. The deadlines were getting to me, the negative news was getting to me, but most of all the low pay was getting to me. I left journalism to become a real estate agent.

I had a good work ethic and I put it to use. I logged long hours, I hired a coach. My husband joined me part time as an agent and together we totally rocked. I used my marketing skills to take our outreach to the next level. It worked. We were soon winning awards for top sales agents.

Then one day we signed some difficult clients. They were simply horrible to deal with. We truly believed we were putting them in a better situation. In fact they thank us to this day for what we did. They were a devoutly Christian couple with a young son. Their neighborhood was deteriorating and they were afraid to leave their house. They were afraid to let their son walk to school. They were also on a severely tight budget.

They had been in their house for many, many years and were afraid to move. Afraid of the unknown. Housing prices had skyrocketed and even if they sold their home and bought a new one, they couldn’t afford the tax base. There were loopholes, however, and we found them. We dug in hard and made the impossible happen and they’ve never forgotten that. During the process, well, that was a different story. There were tears, there was shouting, and there was a lot of reassuring from my husband.

In the end it was all happy. When our clients were happily in their new home I bought them a gift, like I did with all my clients. Only, I liked to give gifts that weren’t standard fare. As with my marketing I liked to think out of the box. However, this was a conservative couple, so it would be a little difficult.

I was watching Food Network and saw a show on Fat Witch brownies. They looked wonderful. So I had them sent to my clients. Soon after I got a call from them and they were enraged.

What I hadn’t realized was I gave a devout Christian family brownies called Fat Witch. Yeah, it didn’t fly.

“Why did you give us those brownies,” the woman asked. “They were made by witches.”

“No there weren’t actually made by witches, it’s just their logo.”

“Yes, they were, it says so on the box. We didn’t even want to bring them into our house, but we tried them and they made us sick. They made us violently sick because they were made by witches. They are now sitting on our garbage can outside and we are afraid to look at them.”

Yes, this was our actual conversation. I remember it verbatim to this day. I was so embarrassed and felt so stupid.

Point is this: How well do you know your clients or customers? Do you think you know them well enough? If you log every detail about them, are you using that information in your dealings? I had spent so much time with these people. I knew they were fearful of everything. I knew they were conservative and religious. I still missed a major detail. One that was really glaring.

If you think you know your customers think again. Make sure you actually stop to think about what you know about them and how you can apply it to build a better business relationship.

Shelly Cone is a journalist, public relations professional, and press release writer. She is also the owner of Beach Betty Public Relations, a California lifestyle design company offering press release services, media relations and collaborative marketing events to help you design your life by growing your business.