Building relationships is the key to a lasting client. Great relationships involve customer intimacy. The ability to build trust and loyalty is crucial to success in business endeavors of all kinds, and the skill of forming and maintaining good relationships is invaluable. There are key elements in creating the relationships with your clients and loyal customers. Statistics show that when you use these steps you can keep them coming back and referring people to you.

1. Know your clients - with all of the social media outlets it's a great way to find out their hobbies, pages they like, sports, pets, etc. As well as when you speak with them asking them about their activities or personal life.

2. Which leads us to communication. Just as in any relationship communication is important. A regular email newsletter is a terrific way of sharing news with your entire database—new products, customer testimonials, and special offers. People usually appreciate periodic personal (non-sale) emails and phone check-ins. As one real estate consultant calls it, “love bombing” should be conversational and client-focused.

3. Go Above and beyond - If your client experiences an issue, tackle it quickly, and own it—don’t ever get defensive or place blame on someone else. Everyone makes mistakes at some point, but you want your clients to remember how you served as their “champion” and solved the problem.Being a champion doesn’t just apply to dealing with issues, either. Perhaps a client is looking for a new business for him- or herself. Ask what you can do to share that need with your own network, either on social media or in the real world.

4. Share knowledge - Establishing yourself as an expert in your industry will build trust among your client base and keep you top-of-mind. Having a Facebook page is a good way to do that as well as in your emails. You can also share things that aren't exactly your industry or have something to do with it! Ex: If you are in the home industry share tips for closet organizing, decorating, or weatherproofing. Look for facts and resources that cannot be easily found by the client, and recommendations for services they may need.

5. Listen - Treat everyone as if they are your only one! Making notes during conversations, and adding them to your database (see tip #1) are essential ways to retain the information your client is giving you, and extremely valuable in future interactions. Take it to the next level: personalized and handwritten thank-you notes may sound old-fashioned, but they go a long way to show that you’ve personally invested time and effort.

6. Be Positive -

People want to do business with others who are upbeat and helpful. Whether in writing—such as email or text—or by voice, focus on your client’s needs and questions. Very few of them are interested in hearing about your business woes or challenges, and it’s just not professional to express them to clients.

One great way to build positive rapport is to develop personal communication habits. For example, you could start emails with “I hope your day is going well,” or end them with “Have a great day.” This is a small but powerful way to impact someone’s outlook on their own day and can reward you down the road. Positivity breeds success!

7. Use Gifts Strategically, all year long. Giving gifts is a tangible way to show appreciation. A group of researchers studied the psychological impact of gift-giving and concluded, "Gift exchanges can reveal how people think about others, what they call and enjoy, and how they build and maintain relationships." (Science Daily) But when is the right time to send a gift to a client? You’ll want to thank a client immediately after a deal is closed and do something special around the holiday season, but you may also consider “non-traditional” times of year when other businesses are not gifting their clients.

As Dale Carnegie stated "You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you."