Client Retention Strategy Essential for Businesses
by Janette Blanco | March 2, 2018
Over the years of talking with entrepreneurs I have often come across the fact that they lack of a client retention strategy, even though they all agree that retaining clients is less expensive than attracting new ones. This also leads to a conversation about customer service.
Do entrepreneurs really understand what excellent customer service means? To help them better understand, here are a few suggestions for retaining clients.
- Be proactive. Anticipate problems. Entrepreneurs must know their customer. They must get familiar with their likes and dislikes. Every industry and market is different. Getting to know your customers will help you provide excellent customer service where the goal is always to exceed expectations.
- Track trends and customer satisfaction. A great way to get to know customers is to track trends and customer satisfaction. There are several tools on the market that can help with tracking. Using a database management system is highly recommended.
- Be consistent. Get your employees trained. Employees should deliver consistent customer service while handling complaints, as well as rewarding customers.
- Be personal. Personalizing services results in building stronger relationships. It shows how much you care. Doing simple things like remembering special occasions, inviting customers to events, sharing content, and tailoring messages according to customer’s profile can go a long way.
- Be an advisor. Being an advisor tends to build dependency. Becoming a trusted source will result in relationship building.
- Communicate well. When developing a new a product or a service, communicate with existing customers. Ask them for feedback. Share the excitement and make them feel they are part of it.
- Label customers. Use positive words like VIP, awesome, or premium to help elevate their positioning with you.
- Do not ignore the bigger picture. Do not see customers as a one-time sale. Think about how you can bring customer’s back in the door with specials or exclusive products and content, throughout the years.
Creating a simple process and being persistent is the key. Having one person managing and monitoring the process helps with consistency.
Get in the habit of calculating your client retention rate. Understand its importance. We all know that retaining a client costs less than attracting new clients and that loyal clients will spread the word and keep buying from you. Client retention can be calculated weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly depending on the business goals and sales cycles.
Client retention is one of the key factors for businesses to grow and succeed.
Benchmarks are a great asset for you to compare how you are doing in comparison to industry standards. Use them to improve. Aim for excellence. Do not settle for average.
When it comes to client retention, average is not good enough. However, it could be a great starting point for improvement.
Janette Blanco
Blanco, Consultants, HillsboroughAssistant Director, Florida SBDC at Hillsborough County
Specialty: Construction Industry Regulations and Licensing, Contract Compliance, Strategic Planning, City/County Contracting
Janette Blanco, assistant director of the Florida SBDC at Hillsborough County, is a civil engineer from Venezuela. As a graduate from University of Massachusetts with 25 plus years of professional experience, she has spent a decade working with the entrepreneurial community in the Tampa Bay area.
Blanco’s style and approach has given rise to the development of strong relationships with significant business leaders in the Tampa Bay area. Over the course of 10 years, Blanco has provided services to approximately 1,500 with more than 10,000 consulting hours. She was the recipient of the 2016 and 2017 Florida SBDC at USF consultant of the year award for the result of her work. She has helped clients obtain more than $48M in government contracts and capital access. Blanco also teaches business-related seminars and aids clients in English and Spanish.
Janette holds a Strategic Management Performance System certification from the George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership, a Master Compliance Administrator certification from the American Contract Compliance Association, a Yellow Belt certification from the International Association for Six Sigma Certification, and Post-Crisis Leadership and Diversity, Equality, Inclusion certificates, both from the University of South Florida Muma College of Business.