Client Rentention and Business Growth May 15, 2015 – Posted in: Sales and Marketing – Tags: retention
Step 1: Retain, don’t scare. Client rentention and business growth
Client retention strategies are important in every business. The most powerful way to do this is to make a lasting impression. When you start building your business, you need to find ways to build around repeat customers. Your current customers are your hottest leads.
Good business always has regular customers. Think about it. The biggest businesses like amazon, apple, microsoft, coca cola, the local grocery shop, netflix, phone services, gas stations.
What do all these all have in common? Customer retention.
When you watch a movie, you don’t want to be left hanging, feeling like something was missing. You don’t want to feel like the plot was incomplete, lacked meaning and failed to unravel.
No, you want your money’s worth and you want the experience to be worthwhile and complete. You don’t want to feel like you just wasted twelve dollars and two hours of your life.
Now think about the a movie that left you speechless. An unforgetable moment. If you provide a service or product in business, this is the kind of experience you want your customers to have. You want to give your clients an incentive to come back again for that next appointment, every time.
Client Rentention and Business Growth
Retention is powerful, and you need a plan to systemically facilitate it. It hardly matters how often you see them, just that they come back at regular intervals.
When you think long term, especially in service businesses, it only matters that you retain them.
Getting the next appointment isn’t the ultimate goal, but it’s the first step for long-term retention.
Sometimes getting the next appointment is all you can do at the moment, but you never want to tell clients that just one, two, or three more appointments will resolve all their health problems.
You don’t want to limit the relationship, your client’s benefits, or your profits because you felt pressured into telling them so.
If they ask how many appointments are needed, be honest, and tell them it depends on the individual circumstances. Give an honest estimate.
Valued Client Relationships
This method flies in the face of many sales pitch programs that tell you to get your clients to buy a certain amount in the first meeting.
There’s nothing wrong with this approach as long as you don’t scare off potential buyers. The more reasonable, profitable, and consistently successful way is often to earn trust first business.
I’ve found that being overly aggressive and trying to “make a bank raid” on the first meeting isn’t the best approach.
Don’t try to get your clients to overcommit. Concern yourself with overdelivering, and the rest will take care of itself.
Develop a simple plan to get your clients to become lifetime repeat buyers. To facilitate the process, answer these questions:
- How can you make them want to come back again?
- What will you present to them to facilitate this?
- How can you make the next purchase an irresistible, “no brainer” decision?
Much of what your clients experience comes from you and your staff having a great attitude and being great at what you do. This sounds simple, but implementing systems and standards that ensure that this happens each visit can be anything but.