Existing clients are worth more than just a predictable stream of revenue; they can become your strongest brand ambassadors.
Client retention is never a one-off job- it’s a continuous process that your company should engage in as a foundation for incremental growth. And how do you push retention? By engagement, by intently listening to their feedback and offering them solutions.
Put simply, making them feel special is the first and only way forward in retaining clients.
Sadly, according to Convero’s 2016 Customer Engagement Study, 58 percent of executives have absolutely no idea on the importance of formal client engagement, while 60 percent don’t really bother upon losing clients.
This becomes regretful once you consider the Harvard Business School study that asserts that a retention rate increase of just 5 percent can potentially increase profits by 95 percent. Furthermore, Research from Invesp discovered that acquiring a new customer can cost up to five times more than retaining an old one.
As a leader of a young company, it becomes essential that you focus your energy as much on client retention as you do on expanding your business. Building strong relations with your existing clients can shore up your finances that will help you in leveraging your business for stronger growth in a short timeframe.
What exactly is customer retention and how can your company ensure it gets repeat business regularly?
Customer retention is all about relationships. The client should have absolute trust in your company that you’ll get the job done, in time, in budget and with their best interests in mind. Fumble anywhere and you have a disgruntled client ready to move to a competito
While it sounds tough, client retention is not a daunting task if your business is careful in delivering a great product with a customer centric support and service.
Open Mind Services Limited , an attentive Inbound Communications company continues to assist its clients in retaining their clients by delivering razor sharp customer service for more than 15 years now.
Every client has a different set of demands and everyone wants you to be focused on them and make their experience of working with you as stress-free as possible. Like a teenager who wants to do his own thing but expects the parent to guide him at every step.
We advise you to build your client relationship network on the foundation of three pillars to forge stronger partnerships that will lead to boosted revenues by virtue of increased retention.
Bear in mind that these three pillars are interconnected to each other in an either or neither situation- none exists without each other, and slackness in even one of these crumbles the entire experience.
Take the veil off. Transparency is built over a foundation of trust. The moment a client realizes he is being pushed inferior products or overpriced services in the garb of a fresh experience, the trust shatters. More transparency in decision making translates into more trust, and more trust leads to increased business and more revenues.
Build a relationship with clients where you see them as real people not just your source of income. Keep them invested in you with honest and upfront communications. Make ideal use of outsourcing inbound customer services to extend your clients the courtesy of quicker resolutions of their issues in the very first engagement.
Show them the big Picture. Clients often are clueless about how a service is critical for them. Show them the context, list the expectations and benefits and align your company’s offerings with their goals.
Manage expectations at every stage to ensure clients are always clear about the status of the progress toward goals.
Expand from a provider to a counselor. When you are able to fulfill a client’s expectations, it’s time to turn a counselor. Ask challenging questions about their objectives and pain points, and recommend more services or products. This doesn’t come easy. You’ll need to discover opportunities within the framework of your client’s business, so the more you explore and analyze, the easier it will be for you to frame counseling in a positive light.
Your client expects you to provide value as much as you are eager to deliver that value.
Client retention is a persistent objective. Like a marathon, you’ll need to build the three pillars of stamina, strength and determination to create solid foundations which will eventually lead to organic revenue growth.