Whether you are a new entrepreneur or a major brand, providing quality service to your client base is the most important aspect of maintaining market share. As more competition wiggles its way into every niche and industry imaginable, the way in which you provide services increasingly impacts whether you can retain clients.

One major element in securing, maintaining and expanding the number of clients you have relates to cultivating strong relationships. If you’re wanting to cement long-term client relationships, then you really must work hard to meet their expectations. Today, we’ll review the primary aspects of client relationships so you can be more effective in this area.

Be Trustworthy

Any long-term relationship – whether it be in business or in personal affairs – is rooted in the concept of trust. For a client to feel welcome, appreciated and comfortable with your brand or firm, you must cultivate a climate of trust.

This can be a bit more difficult than some other actions designed to build client rapport, but relies on you being honest and forthcoming in all situations. From the first dialogue you have with the client, you should aim to be transparent and forthcoming about every project, deadline, goal and result. Otherwise, clients will quickly realize that you’re not trustworthy and you’ll be effectively pinging noise at them whenever you are communicating.

Be Realistic

Throughout the process of building long-term client relationships, there may be moments where pressure encourages us to make promises we can’t deliver. This is potentially a major opportunity where long-term client relationships can be jeopardized.

Simply put, it is up to you to be forthcoming about any requests or demands made by the client. If you cannot deliver a project in the time-frame desired by the client, then be realistic about that and explain why. Most clients are reasonable and will understand when you carefully explain the realistic parameters surrounding any project. If you bite off more than you chew, however, and ultimately fail to deliver, then that can cause the relationship to weaken or fall apart entirely.

Be Informed

Depending on your exact niche, you may service clients across multiple industries and niches. In these cases, it can be difficult to understand upfront the nuances of each industry. If you want to build a successful long-term relationship with these clients, however, then you should aim to learn.

By understanding the unique situations for each client and industry, you can be better prepared to streamline your service offerings to them. When clients can trust vendors, brands and firms to work on their own to complete a project – without having to hold their hand – that creates meaningful value and contributes to long-lasting relationships.

The fundamentals for long-term client relationships are not built overnight. With that being said, it is relatively easy to begin building the basis for those relationships from day one. Rather than guessing what the client wants, pinging noise at them and making promises you can’t keep, aim to be trustworthy, realistic and informed instead. This will help create a working relationship founded on trust and cooperation that will stand the test of time.