Putting the client first
It’s our first client club of 2010 this week and it’s promising to be one of the best yet. With the UK now officially out of recession we’re anticipating a mood of positivity amongst everyone who gathers at the event this week.
I can’t quite believe we have been organising the client club for two years now – time has really flown by. When we first decided to test the idea out, we were sceptical about how it would work. But I stand by the fact that starting the club was one of the best business decisions I have ever made.
The reason? A lot of companies claim that they are ‘client focussed’. That they put their client’s needs at the heart of everything they do. But in my 20 years or so in business, I can count on one hand the number of companies that actually act on this. And Great Guns, I am proud to say, is one of them.
Of course, we use the same ways and means of putting our clients first as everyone else; we do everything we can to ensure they are happy with the service we are providing. In a competitive industry like telemarketing, you have to put the basics in place first, or you wouldn’t have a hope of surviving. But I like to think that we go above and beyond simply the basics – and the client club is just one example of this.
We don’t have to arrange a quarterly get together for our existing and potential clients, of course we don’t. But when we started the club, we wanted to show how highly we value those that use our services. That wasn’t all. Networking has played a large part in helping to build up the company and my reputation as a serious entrepreneur and I wanted to provide a forum for our clients to do the same.
Since then, the events have become more successful than I could ever have hoped. The aim is to bring together like-minded decision makers from a variety of businesses who all share a common passion for winning and retaining clients. The intention is to share ideas and concerns and to provide a forum for people interested in growing business and creating more sales.
At each client club we always try to deliver real value to each and every person that attends. It’s essential that people go away feeling like they have learnt something new and justified their reasons for coming along. This week, we have organised for publishing supremo Tony Coad, the first deputy chairman of the Direct Marketing Association, current board member of Telegraph Publishing and head of EMAP, to present to attendees.
Hopefully everyone will feel like they really get some value out of the client club. Whether it is from networking, listening to the guest speaker or – failing that – the free food and drink that we put on each time!
