Scheme will allow fully looking at the process of working with clients in terms of creating the quality of services in the broadest sense of the words. The implication is that the reader is a qualified specialist or at least aspires to be him.
In general, this article is about how to make the clients not leading away, how to use successfully completed project in the grapevine launch. And a little about CRM collected as a kitchen-table effort.
First part.
Second part - Development.
Third part - Job delivering.

After job delivering many people relax. Why not? The acts are signed, money is received. Why strain yourself?
But in fact, if a positive result was achieved in the project, you can use this period to dramatically improve the level of confidence and to launch grapevine.

After finishing work, our task is to transform the achieved result into the generator of new applications. You can gather feedback, prepare case. These tools will be useful later.
The greatest attention after job delivering is paid to the packing of your services and specific work with clients. Let’s start with the packing.

Testing programme and procedure (TPP)

The essence of TPP is that we describe the sequence of actions that is specified in the testing scenarios and show visually how the goals are achieved that were given before particular modification.

I liked so much this idea in due time that we use it in all even very small products/modifications.

TPP can be of various kinds. For example, if the project is large, then everything is packed very beautiful in large paper folio, sewed and in fact is a package of our not material services. If this is a small local modification, then it is enough video that will show all the basic actions.

Apart from the purely packaging effect which materializes the scope of use which you brought, the presence of such TPPs will simplify the project support. If you know that the user-defined question has been already described, then you do not repeat yourself and send a person to read, view TPP. This point must be specified.

TPP is quite an important tool for the customer, because this documentation partially closes on of the headaches of the customer – personnel turnover. The customer understands that you finished the project and this unique snowflake will always require time to adapt new staff. We add in advance the work with TPP in the cost of work performed, so. it is not an additional budget expense.

Why TPPs are delivered after acceptance, since during the acceptance small changes may occur in functionality, interface, and sometimes in the logic of modifications. During the life of the project we use video surveys that are delivered in alpha-testing, but in the end everything must be documented.

One of the effects of TPP usage is a jacked up service plank within which you will be forced to be compared with other service providers.

Gifts

To make it immediately clear, this is not kickbacks, not bribery and not grease payments! We do not specify in advance for the customer representative that there will be some bonuses and buns after the project. This must be absolutely sudden phenomenon. Below I will explain why.

Firstly, we reserve the emotional aftertaste. Do not give impersonal things like iPad, iPhone, etc. This husks does not work for our purposes. Apple products have purpose – to attract attention. In the open competitions with demonstration of prizes it works fine.

Ideally a gift which carries emotional charge should pull a person from his familiar environment. This is very accurate and aiming shot. You can spend weeks searching such a gift, do not be in a hurry.

For openers, we need to decide for whom we make a present. You can think that you have to make a present for general managers, etc. But on large projects you likely will not work with them closely. There will be IT-managers, project managers from the customer side, chief accountant. You need to determine who has brought in this project significant benefits for you. Benefits can be any. A person could bring you in the project, create a loyalty atmosphere, iron out difficulties, etc. In all projects such a figure is distinguished.

Now you need to decide on the budget. Here everything depends very much on the project economics. We are interested in the net profit after tax payment. We focus on the 10% of this amount. But there is a nuance, if the project is large, then 10% may be a large sum, so the limitation is the monthly salary of specialist who receives a gift. So, summarize: 10% from net profit, but not more than the monthly salary of a person who receives a gift.

Having defined a hero and budget, we begin to choose options. Immediately dismiss all not ethical, not ecological ones. it will be a big mistake to organize a trip in doubtful places. Choose the best that the budget may offer.

You can select some not simple restaurant with quality service and cuisine. You can make a present of a ticket with an open date of the trip. You can present expensive concert tickets. It is necessary at any cost to pull a person from the daily routine. Just that separation from the daily routine will give the desired emotional surge which will not be forgotten.

It works very simple, as well as impressions from travel work. Even many years later, I remember my savage journey in different part of the world, and the memory of these moments itself warms we.

What is all this for?

Firstly, it refers to the controlled launch of grapevine about which I wrote. Believe me, it will take time and if somebody ask this person to offer a good company, you will be at the top of the list. A surprise of event is very important to launch grapevine. By the way, this also applies to other activities. For example, if you present the gifts for accountant on the Accountant day, then you are competing with everyone else. Your gift will be a through and natural on this day. But if, for example, you present a gift on the Accountant day in the old style, believe me, it will be remembered for a long time.

Secondly, where there was one good project may be the second one. If there will be some competition, then you will be not only a favourite since there is already a work experience with you, but you will have also a leverage inside the client which inclines decision in your favour.

Thirdly, we generate not leading away clients. For the gifts the reason can be not only a good project. Less meaningful gifts we present, for example, when during maintenance the clients exceed 100k$. Tell me where these clients will disappear from us after that? What competitors? How much should we flop that it could turn relation to you at 180 degrees? This brings the relationship to another level and gives a huge loyalty reserve.

The talk begin about this sudden act. People will just share their experiences behind the scenes. And if somebody contacted with them or those with whom they talked and asked to advise company of our profile, then they will surely direct them to us.

I wrote once that recently a large corporate client came to us who collected information about franchisee companies from his friend It-managers, two out of five said that we are the only one who can help them, although this is not the case. These two were once the members of this witness protection program to increase loyalty.

In this vein, I was very surprised by the hype around CRM systems. How can you use the program to build relationships with the clients, if you cannot build them without the program? How the CRM systems can be sold by the people who never built the relationships with the clients?

CRM, as a program, is an automation tool of already existing experience to build the relationships with the clients. It is required, if you have thousands of clients and they are for you as like as two peas and if you want toe create an illusion of individual approach. But for this you need to have already gained experience for building the relationships without program. For most of small franchisees, like we, CRM is available without any programs, assemble as a kitchen-table effort and view the results.

In conclusion

Unfortunately, not everyone is able to apply all of this. Many are not able to overcome their own greed. Many more will read it and think that now they understand everything, but will do nothing. In 99% of cases everything will remain in the same place.

Start small, try to present the gifts on completion of your job. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Allocate 5-10% of benefit and you will see that it will come back in a multiple amount. I do not know why, but this world is running so that. Plant one potato, wait, six ones grow. Plant a tree, wait, get a bunch of apples. Present the gifts, wait, get new clients and projects.