Make “Business Friends” to Grow Your Client Base
How can you grow by making clients your business friends?
It’s common sense if you think about it. People do business with people they know and like. It’s more natural than doing business with strangers.
So, let’s talk about clients as friends and what that could mean for your business.
“Business Friends”—What Does That Mean?
When I talk about making clients my friends, I’m referring to “business friends.” What does that mean?
It means I genuinely care about them. Yes, we do business together, but the relationship goes deeper than pure business. There’s genuine empathy and caring, not just business niceness.
Here are two examples. One of my most important clients had a small dog that she loved very much. As we were getting together for a meeting, she mentioned that her dog was ill and at the vet.
How would you respond to that? It would be easy to say, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, I hope your dog gets better soon,” and then move on to the business at hand.
Wrong answer!
I knew how much this dog meant to her, so I kept the conversation going, asking what was wrong, what the vet said, how the dog was the last time she saw it, and so on. She liked talking about her companion.
It made her feel better that another person also cared about her dog. Business could wait for a few minutes.
For me, this was a conversation between friends. I truly cared about my client, and if she was concerned about her pet, I wanted to help her feel better.
Another client worked in an office where they made awful coffee. On my way to meetings with her, I passed by an excellent coffee shop. I would bring her a cup, and one for myself, too. Now we were having coffee together. It was a little thing, but she appreciated it. Coffees brought us closer.
It’s listening and small touches like this that create strong relationships. People like to feel special. You should be the one to make them feel that way.
What’s the Difference Between Business Friends and Other Friends?
If you get into a deep friendship, there may be no difference. But for me, business friends aren’t quite the same as my other friends.
Here are some differences:
I’ve had many lunches with my business friends, but few dinners (usually banquets at awards shows)
I’ve sent wedding gifts but wasn’t invited to the wedding
I’ve sent flowers when a client’s family member passed away but didn’t attend the funeral
We’ve never been in each other’s homes
I sent Christmas gifts (lots of them) but didn’t expect to receive any in return
I know their birthdays, but they don’t know mine
Think about your clients. Do you have similar relationships?
The Most Powerful Time to Help Business Friends?
The most powerful time to help business friends is when they’re between jobs.
I’ve had clients who were let go in a round of reductions at their company. Through no fault of their own, they were now looking for another position.
It was a devastating and lonely time for them. That’s the time to get in touch (you’ve got personal contact information, right?) and ask whether they want to meet for a coffee. You can offer to put out feelers for them through your network.
I’ve helped clients in this position redo their LinkedIn profiles for greater impact. I’ve had their resumes typeset and formatted. I let them know I was always there to help.
Guess what happens after that?
Business Friends Bring You into Their New Company
They find a new job and call you. I can think of five people who changed jobs numerous times and, each time took us with them to their new company.
That is how we got some of our largest clients, with no pitching or competition. We were simply brought in, introduced as trusted vendors, and started working.
I clearly remember one of our clients leaving her job at an electric utility to work for another utility.
About a month later, we got a call from her. Did we have time to come and see her? Of course we did.
She introduced us in a meeting that included their head of marketing, and other team members. Although we brought a portfolio of relevant work, we never opened it. It was immediately obvious that this was a briefing meeting and we didn’t need to show qualifications. Based on our contact’s word, we were pre-qualified.
The briefing was for a campaign that went well into six figures. It won numerous awards and quickly led to a follow-up campaign.
From that introduction years ago, this client relationship is still ongoing and has brought millions of dollars of profitable revenue, numerous awards, and industry credibility.
While other companies were trying to get business from this client by sending presentations, portfolios, or banging on the front door, we walked in through the side door.
“In through the side door” is the easiest way to gain new clients. It’s the platinum version of word-of-mouth.
Polish Your Soft Skills to Make Business Friends
To build these kinds of relationships, you need to work on your soft skills, mainly communication and empathy.
How good are you at interacting with others? Can you carry a conversation? When your client speaks, are you listening? Are you genuinely interested in what they say, whether it’s about business or their personal life? Or are you just waiting to jump in and talk?
Your job is to make everyone thrilled by the fact that you’re there. You want to be recognized as an essential part of their network.
Keep in mind that clients aren’t bound to you by contract—they can change suppliers at any time. Part of your job is being someone your client wants to work with again and again.
Business Friends Still Means Business
Always remember that even with business friends, it’s still business. In other words, you have to deliver, meet expectations, and give all of your projects 100%.
Friendship is not an excuse to get lazy or deliver sub-standard work. You can’t take that friendship for granted.
The Benefits of Business Friends for You and Your Clients
For you, this type of relationship brings steady long-term work. It means you spend less time pitching strangers for new business, and more time on billable work.
For the clients, it means they have someone they can count on, someone who understands their business. Your deep experience allows you and your clients to communicate with each other in shorthand.
You’ve become an expert in their business. You know all their industry buzzwords, you’re familiar with their target audiences and their issues. That makes it easy for your clients. You’re taking problems off their hands and making them look good.
It’s a win/win. Do it right, and it’s your ticket for years.
Business Friends Won’t Get You In? Try the Vendor List
If you want to do business with big corporations or governments, and don’t have any business friends to help you, you’ll likely have to get on their Vendor List.
Learn all about Vendor Lists and why you want to get on them. Vendor Lists opened the doors to substantial business for me for many years.
There’s much more about business friends and Vendor Lists in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.
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This book breaks it all down from beginning to end. It gives practical advice from a seasoned veteran and a path you can follow to your own success. It's an easy read that doesn't bog itself down and is highly adaptable to your personal career journey. I highly recommend this book!”
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