How to win and keep clients with the help of AI
By AiKit13 min read
If you struggle to find clients and get them to come back, the problem is probably after the quote. Winning and keeping clients takes four steps: making your offer appealing, sending it, following up and looking after whoever trusted it. The last two are the hardest, unless you know how to use AI.
In this guide you'll follow an air-conditioning maintenance company that works for offices and residents' associations (comunidades de vecinos). The person who runs it also does the selling. At each step you'll see the text as it is usually written by hand, the request to the AI and how it reads afterwards.
| Aspect | Winning clients | Looking after clients |
|---|---|---|
| What's at stake | That people who fit your service ask you for a quote, and accept it | That they come back, renew and recommend you without you having to go looking for them again |
| Steps | Attract, reply to whoever asks, send the proposal, follow up | Deliver what was agreed, give notice before the next service visit, write to the client who doesn't come back, ask for the review |
| Where it's lost | In the quote sent that nobody writes about again | In the client who only hears from you when the invoice arrives |
| What the AI drafts | The text of your Google profile and your website, the proposal, the follow-up emails | The service reminder, the message for the client who doesn't come back, the review request |
| What you check | Prices, timescales and what is and isn't included in the price | That what you say about the client is true and that the promotional email includes the unsubscribe option |
| What the law says | No sales emails to anyone who hasn't requested or authorised them (LSSI) | To an existing client, if you obtained their data lawfully: only similar services, and with a way to unsubscribe in every email (LSSI) |
How do you attract clients to a service business?
#Attracting clients to a service business means getting people who fit what you do to ask you for a quote. That's how you fill your diary with jobs that are worth it. In a small business, what counts is recommendations, your Google profile, your website and the odd social network.
The description on your Google profile is a good example. At the maintenance company, it might be written like this:
Air-conditioning maintenance company with extensive experience. Quality, reliability and trust. Ask for a no-obligation quote.
It says the same as any competitor, so it doesn't help anyone decide. The request to the AI, with your details in it, could be this:
And this is how it could turn out:
We maintain the air conditioning of offices and residents' associations: regular servicing, filter cleaning and breakdown repairs. We send you a written quote after seeing the installation. Ask for it by phone, on WhatsApp or through the form on our website.
The new version says who it's for, what's included and what the next step is. Check that every service it mentions is one you really offer, because if a detail is missing, the AI fills it in with whatever is most common in your sector. The same method works for your posts, and you'll find it in the guide to AI for social media.
Avoid buying followers or mailing lists. With lists, what's more, Spain's Information Society Services Act (LSSI) prohibits sending advertising by email to anyone who hasn't requested or authorised it.
What does a sales proposal need for the client to accept it?
#A sales proposal that converts covers the client's need, what the price includes and what it doesn't, the timescale and the next step. That way the client doesn't compare on price alone. In services, the proposal and the quote are usually the same document.
This is how the email that sends it usually turns out:
Hi, here's the quote for the maintenance. Let me know if you need anything. Best regards.
The client sees one figure and compares it with another without knowing what each one covers. Give the AI your notes from the visit and your price list, and ask it for this:
The email that goes with that proposal could read like this:
Hi Marta,
I'm sending you the proposal for maintaining the air conditioning in your office. It includes regular servicing, filter cleaning and breakdown repairs during working hours. It doesn't include spare parts, which are quoted separately if any need replacing. We can start whichever week suits you, and the quote is valid for one month. If it works for you, reply to this email and I'll send you the contract.
It works better because the client sees what they're paying for and what they aren't. Go over the price with your price list in front of you, since it's the first thing they'll query if it doesn't match.
What should you do if you send a quote and the client doesn't reply?
#If you send a quote and the client doesn't reply, write to them again with something new and a question that's easy to answer. Otherwise, they may sign with another company without you knowing why.
Not replying doesn't mean they've said no: often the email just got buried under others. We recommend a short plan: one email a few days later, another if there's still no reply, and a final message that closes things off. Note down when you sent each one.
A follow-up written by hand is usually one line:
Hi, did you get a chance to look at the quote?
It gives them nothing new, so the easiest thing is to leave it for later. With the quote and your notes in front of you, ask for this:
The client remembers what it's about without opening the PDF, gets an answer to a question they may not have written down and can reply in one line.
The final message closes without pressure and leaves the door open:
Hi Marta, as I haven't heard from you, I take it now isn't the right time and I won't write to you about this proposal again. If you need it later on, reply to this email and we'll update it.
How do you get a client to come back and recommend you?
#Building client loyalty means getting them to hire you again and recommend you, and that fills your diary without going out to find every job. In services, a loyalty card counts for little, because what counts more is doing what you said, getting in touch before the client has to call you and remembering what they told you.
Imagine a residents' association whose breakdown you fixed last winter. If nobody writes to them, at the next breakdown they'll call the first company they find. The email written by hand is usually a general offer:
Hi, we're the maintenance company. This month we have offers on servicing. Call us and we'll tell you more.
With the client's record and your notes from that job, ask the AI for this:
And this is how it could turn out:
Hi Luis,
Last winter we repaired the air-conditioning breakdown in the building's entrance hall. Before the hot weather arrives, I'd suggest a service visit to check that the repair is holding up and to clean the filters. If that works for you, tell me which week suits you best and we'll arrange it.
If you'd rather not receive any more emails like this one, write to us at [unsubscribe address].
The client sees that you remember their case, but check that what you say is accurate.
This email is promotional, so the LSSI applies to it. You can send it to someone who is already a client if you obtained their data lawfully and you're offering them similar services. Every email has to say who is sending it and include a simple way to unsubscribe.
When you finish a job that has gone well, ask for the Google review too.
What is a CRM and when do you need one?
#A CRM (customer relationship management) is the tool where you keep contacts, open quotes and what you discussed with each client, and it keeps the team aligned so that nobody repeats a message that has already been sent. Each potential sale also goes through stages until it's won or lost: that's the sales funnel.
We recommend thinking about a CRM when your notebook, your phone or your spreadsheet are no longer enough, which these signs usually point to:
Before choosing one, decide what you're going to record about each client, because a CRM is only useful with what you put into it. If you have few clients, a spreadsheet with name, quote date, amount and next step is enough. Either way it's personal data, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the LOPDGDD, Spain's data protection act that succeeded the LOPD, apply to it.
AiKit Desk includes a CRM with contacts, leads (potential clients who haven't yet asked for anything specific), opportunities by stage and notes.
Where is it best not to use AI with your clients?
#It's best not to use AI where what matters isn't in what you give it, or where a mistake commits you to the client. Artificial intelligence fills the gaps with whatever is most likely, as we explain in the guide to AI for SMEs.
How does AiKit help you win and look after clients?
#To apply this guide you need your clients in a list with their stage, and to draft each message on time. AiKit is an AI suite in which you use several of the AI models on the market. Each person on the team is connected only to the parts that concern them.
AiKit Chat drafts the proposal, the follow-up and the re-engagement email with your notes and your prices. If you connect Gmail or Outlook, it reads the thread with the client (read-only) and drafts the reply, which you send yourself.
AiKit Desk is the CRM, with quotes created from the opportunity. What's more, from the chat you can create the contact or the opportunity, move it to another stage and add notes. AiKit doesn't find clients for you or send emails on your behalf.
