What would happen to your business if your clients loved you?  How about if your clients knew you loved them?  You may have a few clients like this, but the odds are it's a very small percentage of your total customer base.  The odds are most of your customers are merely satisfied. 

According to "Why Satisfied Customers Defect" a 1995 article in the Harvard business Review, satisfied customers are NOT loyal, just satisfied.  A completely satisfied customer, however, is more than four times more likely to purchase multiple products from you - and reward you with unsolicited referrals.  If you want Clients ForeverÒ you will need to build a system to create completely satisfied customers.  To do this means you will have to do more than just sell and deliver your products and services.

In most companies, once the sale is made and the company has fulfilled on the promise, that's the end of the line-unless you have another sale you want to make to the same customer.

One of the largest insurance companies in America recently did a study.  Nearly a third of their policies are considered "orphans," since they do not have an agent assigned to the client.  When the company polled their policyholders however, they found that more than two thirds didn't think they had an assigned agent.  Nearly 14 million policyholders didn't even realize they had an agent.  This company is well known for their commercials and advertisements.  But, this is a typical example of a company where most of their effort goes into gaining new customers rather than building a better relationship with their existing clients.

It makes one wonder if the most successful sales people, in reality, aren't.  They may be successful at selling products or finding new prospects, but not at building long-lasting business relationships.  Most business' think they have clients when in reality they really have customers.  A customer is someone who buys products and services from you.  A client considers you such an important part of their life...they make you a "line item" in their budget.

There are four steps for building Clients ForeverÒ.  Each step can be compared somewhat to developing a romantic relationship.