Communication is the key to building exceptional relationships with your customers and your potential customers. You can spend thousands on your marketing plan and it will all fall apart if you don’t do this one simple thing… reply.

Your clients and potential clients already *assume* you have the technical expertise, the background, and the professionalism required to serve them. They also assume your competition has the same. Spending time talking about everything you know, all your official designations, your sales record means nothing to them and it makes you look insecure and like a bit of a braggart.

Clients are concerned with what you can do for them — and more importantly — what you have done for them lately. Something as simple as failing to respond in a timely fashion to a text message, a phone call, or an email can break the fragile foundation of a new relationship and can damage a long-standing one.

When someone doesn’t return your call, what do you think? Do you begin to doubt your importance to them? Do you think that your situation is of no consequence to them? Do you consider them rude or too busy to bother with you? Exactly! Your clients think the same thing.

So, before you spend a great deal of time and money preparing your marketing plan, you may want to review your communication plan to ensure that you are responsive by voice, mail, text, and email. If you don’t have a system in place, get one. It’s too important to the success of your relationships and your word-of-mouth marketing to let something so simple slide.