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Client communication: Difference between revisions
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Frame your letter to appeal to your correspondents, so they are more likely to read it. | Frame your letter to appeal to your correspondents, so they are more likely to read it. | ||
Personalise it. don’t say “[[Dear Client]]” — don’t ''ever'' do that — but address it to an individual by name, and send it from an individual, by name. Yes, I know it is a mass mailshot to every client in the book. But we are in 2021, friends. It is not beyond the wit of technology, | Personalise it. don’t say “[[Dear Client]]” — don’t ''ever'' do that — but address it to an individual by name, and send it from an individual, by name. Yes, I know it is a mass mailshot to every client in the book. But we are in 2021, friends. It is not beyond the wit of technology, anymore to ''use a freaking mail merge''. (you thought I was going to say “use neural networks to guess client names” didn’t you?). What’s stopping you? Oh, crappy client static data? ''Fix your damn client static data''. If your salesguys aren’t keeping it up to date, ''they’re not doing their jobs''. Either have good client static data, and use it to demonstrate you care enough about your client to be justified in calling them “dear” — or don’t, accept your clients to you are a passive herd of cattle there only to be milked, and don’t try to be ingratiating while you do it. | ||
''Don’t say “please be advised”''. Just don’t do it. These are your valuable clients, not truculent secondary school children plotting to burn down the staff room. | ''Don’t say “please be advised”''. Just don’t do it. These are your valuable clients, not truculent secondary school children plotting to burn down the staff room. | ||
''Go easy on the disclaimers''. Think first “what will my client think of ''me'' if I say that”, rather than “what if I get it wrong and my client sues me?” As the [[JC]]’s pithy maxim has it: usually, [[you only need airbags if you don’t steer straight]]. Concentrate on defensive driving, not crash mats. If you ''have'' to have a disclaimer — and I know, you ''will'' have to have one — keep it brief, to the point and put it at the end. If the first thing your client reads is “[[Please be advised]] we take no responsibility for this, we are only doing this because someone said we have to, so on your own head be it”, your client is going to think, “gee, what a douche”. Generally, that’s not how you want your client to be thinking now, is it? | ''Go easy on the disclaimers''. Think first “what will my client think of ''me'' if I say that”, rather than “what if I get it wrong and my client sues me?” As the [[JC]]’s pithy maxim has it: usually, [[you only need airbags if you don’t steer straight]]. Concentrate on defensive driving, not crash mats. If you ''have'' to have a disclaimer — and I know, you ''will'' have to have one — keep it brief, to the point and put it at the end. If the first thing your client reads is “[[Please be advised]] we take no responsibility for this, we are only doing this because someone said we have to, so on your own head be it”, your client is going to think, “gee, what a douche”. Generally, that’s not how you want your client to be thinking now, is it? | ||