Repairing A Broken Business Relationship

StairJunkie

Everyone who's been in business for some time has probably had an instance where things did not go perfectly as planned and lost a customer who they did business with on a regular bases.

For those who've had this happen... did you take any reactive steps to try and get your client back? Were you successful? How long of a time frame was it between the incident that lost you the client and when you attempted to rebuild the relationship?

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smadax

Depends on the situation, can you elaborate?

StairJunkie

Say timeliness in service when things in the housing industry were busier going back even 5-10 years ago. If improvements have been made to your system and you now believe you're competitive if not better than your competitors, what strategy would you use in going about inviting a past customer back to use your products/service?

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sparehair

I think food is good for any business relationship. Take em out to lunch. And not taco bell either ya cheap skate.

Double-A

Be honest with them. Invite them to lunch to discuss what your company has to offer now and to explain what has changed and why.

Let them know you're willing to work to earn their business on every job.

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

dirt diggler

perhaps i am misunderstanding you.

so you lost some customers when you had a sh*t load of work ... and now you don't - so you want to reclaim some of them???

Is that what you're getting at?

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Thanks in advance!!!

JMJ

This would make a good discussion. We had a lawyer/developer that we just started a business relationship with. We built a small retail plaza for him. He replaced the previous contractor after the first building and hired us to do the second. The job went well. We completed the shell 2 weeks ahead of schedule after a 2 week delay. He called us back to do the interior build out. Somewhere in between this time i suspect he lost his schedule. He would call and schedule us then the day before we showup he'd back us off again. This happened more than a few times within a 2 week time. When he was finally ready we had to push him back a day. This set off a bad day and the job finished on a bad note. But the guy built nice stuff and had some 4 story office buildings in the plans. He payed timely and let us do our thing for the most part. He's a hothead but not a bad guy. We're considering trying to repair this relationship. Anyone have similar situations that they've worked through?

StairJunkie

Well, after upgrading to better scheduling systems and fine tuning production processes the end result is being able to take care of customers in a way that now rivals/beats competitors. This could create value for potential clients, some of whom we used to do business with, and would just like to present the upgrades and changes to our business to those clients in the best way possible for them to understand this could all help them.

I think the goal of reaching back to old clients is to not seem desperate. What's important is to differentiate from the competition; makes sure the client understands the apples to oranges comparison between you and your competitors. Show how you bring value regardless of business activity in the marketplace.

What i'm interested in knowing from others is what channels you guys would use to engage these clients. SpareHair mentioned invitations to lunch. What else would you guys go with?

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Double-A

I see more of what you're trying here. Well, I think you might consider posting some picture and testimonials on a photo hosting site, and invite these past clients to take a look.

If you make it something like a short, 20-30 slide presentation of your work and some slides explaining what you have done to improve business and how you are working to earn your client's business, you will get some calls. Leave it up for several months. You can never tell when folks will go take a look at it or why. The important part is to tell them.

Desperate or not isn't the issue. Your willingness to work hard to earn their business and to make sure you deliver a quality product is what is important to them.

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

simplejack

But I'm not sure if I get the right picture from your two posts but here is what i think the problem is: You had a regular client, and you were overwhelmed at some point, to which you have lost their business. Now you feel you have either identified the problem within you company and re organized, or have slowed down a bit, enough to want to get back to doing business with them... Hmm, it would be helpful to know how long it's been since you last worked with them but more importantly what caused them to leave? and on what terms?

Let's assume, quality was not the issue, your client simply felt that you had to much on your plate. you might want the client to know about "significant" improvements you made such as if you hired more people, or how your reorganized your priority's. tell them that their business and friendship meant more to you and that you would be scaling back other projects to devote more time to theirs. be specific, honest and point out to actual concrete changes not vague terms like "we improved organization".

If things didn't get out of hand, simply ask for the opportunity to bid on other projects, then show them how much you want their business with your cost, and if awarded the job, do not make the same mistake. this truly is a simple problem to over come.

And forget about seeming "desperate" if this client is petty do you really want to work for them? If so... then keep your chin up, don't sacrifice any of your principles and handle it as strictly BUSINESS, and NOTHING more.