Adding value....

First of all, I'm finding it hard to believe that it is December 1st and my last post was in September! How did that happen?! Well, the good news is that it's because business has been off the charts busy. Brand new clients, older clients coming back, existing clients asking for more work, all good! And perhaps that's part of the reason that my blog title is "adding value." Tomorrow (12/2) I'll be the guest host for the Public Relations Society of America Westchester-Fairfield Chapter Peer to Peer luncheon. I was very flattered to be asked. I was a member of the PRSA for years and then didn't renew a few years back and just recently joined up again. I wanted to get back involved with my peers, find out what they were doing differently, how social media had impacted their businesses, etc. So I really was honored to be asked to speak at this function so quicky after rejoining. The topic suggested was a good one, adding value. This is actually a philosophy I have lived by for the past 20 years of running GMG Public Relations. My goal has always been to provide the very best service I could and somehow add a little extra. My thinking was, in the early days, that if I provided a little unexpected extra it would justify my fee a little more and in the beginning I wanted to make clients happy at any expense. What I learned over time was that this "giving" of my services beyond what was expected went a very long way toward making me a trusted and valuable part of the team.

Many of my clients have been with me for many, many years, one client has been with me for all 20 years, another for 12, one for 10, another for 7, another for 3. I value those relationships and my goal is for them to feel the same way.

How do you add value?