There are many tips out there for how to improve productivity. Most of them simply tell you what to do. I prefer to tell you how to do it, with specific examples of what you can use, and how you can use it. I hope you will use my ideas for inspiration, and come up with your own versions and variations. Please post your comments below with your ideas and feedback. I would love to hear from you, especially if these ideas have proven helpful. Here are 5 software related tips for how to keep your clients over the moon happy with you.
With Slack
1. Don't make your clients reach out to you
Get to them first with status updates, so they don't have to wonder, and they don't have to feel like they're bugging you by asking about it.
2. Create a "Status" channel in Slack
You can post general notes and updates. Put "@channel" in your update, and everyone in that channel will receive a notification. This increases the likelihood that everybody "got the memo."
3. Use Reminders in Slack
Reminders are a powerful tool in Slack. You can remind yourself, or someone else to do something at a specific date and time. In fact, you can use the DM with yourself, as a great place for reminders that are meant only for you. Try setting a weekly reminder in your status update channel to post an update. Set this for different days with different clients, so you're not overwhelmed.
With Google Keep
4. Use Google Keep for simple high level reminders
Your project management application may well be cluttered with all kinds of detailed things that you need to do. Sometimes you need a simple, high level place to jot down reminders. Or they're not reminders about specific tasks, but more general reminders about clients and prospects that you need to (eg) get on your calendar.
With Your Calendar
5. Block off a day on your calendar
At times you may find your mind swimming with clients, and things that you need to do for them. The best cure for this is to sit down, and map out when you will work on these clients. One of my favorite things to do is to block out an entire day on my calendar. It's an all day appointment with myself, and it will be called something like, "client work." This generally means no e-mails or social media. Just highly focused time, getting caught up on... well... EVERYTHING!
Hint: Post status updates in Slack for your clients letting them know that you will have an update for them at the end of this day.
Sometimes I will block off the better part of a week like this. I can always free up time, and add people to my calendar if I feel the need, or time allows. When I look ahead at my calendar, and see that I've done this, I feel an immediate sense of relief.
Some of the above might seem like it's more for you, and your sanity, than it is for your clients. The bigger picture result is that you will keep your clients informed, and keep them current. This will keep your clients super happy. Imagine their surprise, when they get a notification that you will be working on their stuff on a particular day, and then you will update them as to the status. They get the status update letting them know where everything is, and what you may need from them to keep going. All of this while they never had to ask once!
Getting and keeping your world organized will go a really long way to keeping your clients happy.
Remember, the goal is to improve your clients lives so profoundly, they couldn't imagine working with anyone else.
