Effective project managers will know how important successful engagement is for future business prospects. Good engagement with customers can lead to repeat business from their current clients as well as referrals for future business. If making money is your aim, then engaging your customer will be your game.

1. How to engage your customer

Clear communication is key here. Communicate first and foremost by listening to the customer’s needs and what problem they are looking to solve. This will enable you to glean detail and show how your business can help them with their own unique problem. Listen actively, giving your full attention, eye contact and repeating back key phrases to give the client confidence in your understanding of their requirements. This information will also help you to develop and tailor your products appropriately to the customer’s needs.

2. Aim to exceed expectations

By meeting your customer’s expectations and then going the extra mile, you stand a better chance of impressing the client and increasing the likelihood of repeat business and onward referrals to new clients. You are making a positive impact on your company’s reputation and ensuring client satisfaction. Exceeding expectations can be achieved by engaging effectively with your customer. By talking through the plan and listening to feedback, you can find out their needs and look at the bigger picture of their problem to find an appropriate resolution with a view to offering a better solution than they had expected.

3. Transparency

By being genuinely open and transparent you will command greater respect from the customer and foster a sense of trust. The customer should feel involved during the planning, throughout the work and understand the decision-making process. By allowing the customer to feel engaged and involved, they will be more likely to get their preferred outcome, with no hidden surprises. Transparency helps to develop a relationship based on trust between the project manager and the customer.

4. Get to know personal details

By engaging your client in conversation and spending the time to really listen to them talk about their life, you can get to know them properly and start to make assumptions about how to move forward with the business relationship. Chats like this can help to break down the formal barriers of a professional deal and develop a personal relationship to complement the business arrangement. Use these conversations to find out information about how best to serve the client and analyze chats to uncover useful details to help you improve their experience. You can even make notes to save for later. Customers will appreciate the attention to detail and personal touch.

Although spending time and energy on informal chats may appear to be a waste of precious company time, rest assured that time spent developing customer engagement will pay off in the long run for the success your business.