All good relationships are based on communication. A relationship survives only if the parties involved maintain a line of communications. This line of communication needs to be a two way process, meaning that it should flow back and forth. Any tendency to go slow in communication it may give your partner the impression of your lack of interest in the venture... And the partner could decide it isn’t worthy doing business with us.

Therefore, answer the client’s emails as soon as possible, and keep the messages as concise and to the point as possible. You have to prove that time is valuable for him and for you as well.

After sending your translation, you should let the client know that you’re more than happy to answer any possible question related to a particular choice of words or nuance of your terminology.

I also think that it is highly important to be not only responsive, but also enthusiastic about what the client asks you to do. Your reaction should be a little bit more than polite and should be interpreted as friendly. Just because you need to make everyone who contacts you feel at ease when communicating with you. Thus you increase your chances in receiving further work and of your clients spreading the word about your professionalism and friendly nature. A life cycle of any business relationship starts with a relationship-establishing or a deal-killing friend-or-foe analysis. In other words, the first thing that people do when meeting is decide whether they feel comfortable with that person or not. Is that person a friend or a foe?

A second stage of a business relationship is the credibility stage (according to forbes.com).

Although I insisted on being friendly, you shouldn’t take everything personal. If, for instance, you haven’t heard from someone in a while, feel free to reach out to him/her. You may be able to get some new work or just tips concerning future work allowing you to prepare in advance.

The third stage consists of building trust. It is the longest of the three phases so far, as we all know it takes time to establish it. It takes 12 positive service experiences to make up for 1 negative experience. Yes, this is how sensitive trust is.

The final stage is the natural flow, development of the relationship. This may be defined by a work calendar.

Nurturing your relationships is quite crucial for a successful business. At any time, the one unhappy customer can share his/her opinion with the whole world via social media. And, according to research, as many as 89% of the consumers begin doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience.  Have I got your attention already? Take your customer’s feedback seriously and make sure you act upon reasonable requests. Always follow through on your word. Your word is your bond. Remain consistent in your messaging and your customers will learn what they should expect from you in the future.

As for the exact communication methods, here are a few that you could successfully use:

1.email: send short email messages with the most important content in the first sentence and a clear subject line;

2.phone: in a phone call you get the chance to show that you care about solving quickly a client issue;

3.Skype: great for conference calls and international clients and it’s free;

4.Snail mail: interested in standing out in front of your clients? A mailed letter can make a huge impression compared to another email in the inbox;

5.Social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter): thus you’re meeting your clients where they’re spending much of their time. You don’t get buried in the email inbox and you don’t interrupt meetings or dinners;

6.texting: you can thus stay on top of things that need immediate attention.

Nevertheless, you should always discuss with your clients about the best mean of communication as far as both of you are concerned. Just make sure that you deliver value in your communication (do not contact customers unless you have useful information to share with them).