You cannot automate trust. Like all parts of your business, you have to work for it (surprise!). Putting client relationships on the front burner really pays off, because trust is built and protection is key.
You’ve built something real; now here’s how you keep it.
Susan Finch herself was invited to join Mark Adams on The Unforget Yourself Show to talk about what it actually takes to build lasting client relationships — and why slowing down beats every shiny new tactic.
Susan works with small to mid-size businesses and professional organizations to find strategic clarity before adding tools, campaigns, or pretty websites. She asks the annoying questions. The ones nobody else asks. And that’s exactly why clients stay for 17 years.
She also shares what running Binky Patrol — a 30-year all-volunteer nonprofit making handmade blankets for kids in crisis — has taught her about grace, listening, and a servant’s heart that shows up in everything she does.
Here are key points Susan has learned from her experience:
First: trust is not automated. Building real client relationships requires patience, honesty, and the willingness to have uncomfortable conversations — none of which a tool can do for you.
Second: clarity before campaigns. Before adding anything new, Susan audits what’s already in place — what’s working, what’s broken, what’s available, and what the actual goal is. Only then does anything get built.
Third: required versus desired. Every business has tools it must use and tools it wishes it had. Sorting those two categories — and clearing out what’s gathering dust — is often the first real breakthrough.
Fourth: words before websites. Design follows copy, not the other way around. Trying to build a site before the messaging is clear is a guaranteed way to waste time and money.
Fifth: slow down to ask better. Susan describes becoming “almost annoying” with questions — and explains why that’s the entire point. If you don’t ask, clients will come back later and ask why you didn’t.
Sixth: the nonprofit and the business share a philosophy. Binky Patrol — 30 years old, all-volunteer, operating in all 50 states — runs on the same servant’s heart that drives how Susan handles every client relationship: put their needs first, do right by them, stay in it for the long haul.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Find The Unforget Yourself Show below.
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-unforget-yourself-show/id1679665367
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qvSo1G0irAgsF8PUkVwfY?si=5831c7edd87f4228