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Clients For Life

Brief Overview

A sad situation led me to reflect on three questions on what it takes to create clients for life. We spend so much of our life in our business that we have to keep these questions—and our answers—front and center.

Background

The last couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. As I’m recording this, I’m actually in Miami Beach, Florida. I’m here hosting my Impact Mastermind, a small group of amazing entrepreneurs who I bring together up to three times per year. So, I’m here for that right now, but literally right before this event, I flew to England for an unfortunate circumstance. My Nanny, my grandmother, passed away. So, I was there for her funeral.

Immediately after the funeral ceremony, my family all went to a pub. I guess it’s pretty traditional in the English culture and it was fitting for my Nanny in particular because back in the day, she actually used to own and run a couple of pubs.

What was fascinating is that there were a couple of people who attended Nanny’s funeral who were customers, regulars if you will, of the pub that she used to own. Now, that’s shocking to me because she sold the pub 15 to 20 years ago. These were regular customers who were in the pub on a regular basis and 15 or 20 years later they wanted to show up and show their respect to my Nanny at her funeral, which is incredible. Think about that… How many of us have lifelong customers, clients for life who would still remember us 15, 20 years later after doing business with us?

Not only did they still remember her, but they actually took the time and effort to show up and pay their respects. It says a lot about my grandmother and a lot about the impact that she had on those people’s lives.

This got me reflecting on three questions that I want to share with you today. I hope that these three questions get you thinking about how to deepen your relationships with the people who invest with you, so that you can leave a lasting legacy with your business.  

Big Ideas

Question #1: How am I currently showing up for my best clients? [03:48]

Am I showing up for my clients in such a way that if something drastic and unfortunate were to happen to me, my clients would show up to pay their respects? Have I had an impact on my clients in such a way? I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that, but it got me thinking about it and it got me thinking about how I am currently showing up for my best clients.

Question #2: How can I deepen my relationship with my best clients and customers? [04:37]

At the end of the day, you can’t have deep relationships with all of your customers. Quite frankly, there are some customers you’re just not going to want to have deep relationships with. Despite what everybody thinks, not all customers are created equal. Some are a real pain in the ass. And I can say that as an entrepreneur, because man, I have experienced all ends of the spectrum as it relates to clients and customers.

So, I obviously want to continue to attract great clients and customers, but how can I build deeper relationships with them? This week, I’m actually with a group of my best clients and customers at our Impact Mastermind group in Florida. It’s amazing because this is our first year of the mastermind and each meeting that we have, I can feel the relationship going deeper and deeper. I’m so grateful for them. I’m so grateful for the way that they show up in their business and for the way they show up in my life, and that got me thinking about how I can deepen my relationship with them and with my other clients and customers.

Question #3: How do I want to be remembered by my best clients and customers? [06:37]

Obviously, funerals are not a joyful time. It’s not an experience that any of us like having. I shed a lot of tears at my Nanny’s funeral. It’s still fresh but it got me thinking a lot. It got me thinking about life and business. It got me thinking about that legacy piece. We spend a huge amount of time in our business and in our careers and I just want to make sure that the time I’m investing in my business serving my clients and customers is leading me to where I want to go and that I’m leaving the legacy that I want to leave. If I want to be remembered in a certain way, am I doing the things today that are going to create that lasting legacy?

Memorable Quotes

“How many of us have customers who would still remember us 20 years later after doing business with us?” – Stu McLaren

“If I want to be remembered in a certain way, am I doing the things today that are going to create that lasting legacy?” – Stu McLaren

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