Losing a big client or contract can be scary, especially if it’s been in place for a while. But that’s life and all relationships come to an end. It’s important not to rely too much on any one gig – do your best to keep providing good service to lots of clients because you never know when something will happen.
It may seem counter-intuitive to focus on losing customers. After all, we want to keep the ones we have and grow our customer base. But focusing on losses is actually a key part of running a successful business.
What if you could take lessons from those who churn and use them as an opportunity for improvement?
While customer retention can be difficult to quantify, it is no less important than acquiring new customers. It’s one of the best ways to improve your business performance and profitability.
A well-handled loss is an opportunity for your business to reconnect with your existing customers. It is a time for empathy and reassurance.
Losing a customer does not have to be the end of the relationship, it can lead to a better relationship with existing customers if handled well. This will make them feel valued which will increase their loyalty over time.
The Difference Between a One-Off and the Loss of a Large Customer
A one-off customer is a customer that only happened to be a customer for a certain period of time. They may have been initially attracted by promotional offers. These customers expect discounts and incentives all the time, and they leave as soon as they can find an alternative provider willing to do so.
Large customers are long term customers with whom you interact on an ongoing basis. With these kinds of customers, it’s important to invest in them and offer them the best service possible, because you want to keep them for as long as possible – or even bring them back if they left. You need to know what the needs and wants of your customers are in order to provide the best service and products.
Even if the customer churns, it’s hard to determine how many of those customers were one-offs and how many were your long-term customers. For this reason, it is important to calculate your customer retention rates so you can stay on top of what’s happening with your company.
What is Your Recovery Strategy for Handling Losses?
Losing a customer is not just an economic loss, but also a major emotional trauma. With the increase in competition and the consequently reduced profit margins, it becomes even more difficult to retain customers. However, there are certain steps that can be taken to minimize customer churn and to have a recovery strategy for handling losses.
Over the years, I’ve had my share of clients leave my agency. We usually get a few inklings that they may be thinking about leaving, so we know when things are going well or not.
The first step is to figure out why customers are leaving your business. Once you’ve figured that out, your focus should be on retaining them than on acquiring new ones. This way, you will have a loyal fan base who will support your business through thick and thin. Retaining customers is so much more cost effective than finding new ones.
It is important for any marketing campaign or strategy to have a customer acquisition strategy as well, which is often an overlooked but integral part of any business’s growth plan. This can be achieved through investment in targeting high-value prospects or improving conversion rates on potential customers who are already aware of your product or service offerings.
The 3 Phases ….
When customers are happy, they are more likely to stay with your company. You can keep them happy by implementing the 3 phases of post-loss recovery.
2) Preventing customer churn
3) Measuring customer satisfaction levels.
You can take these steps during each phase:
1) Reduce churn rates by having a clear plan of what you will do to win back lost customers.
2) Design personalized messages for customers who have shown interest in your products, but haven’t yet made a purchase.
3) Discover what is preventing your customers from making purchases and find ways to improve the issue.
The Lost Client Syndrome – Why It Happens & What You Should Do About It
The Lost Client Syndrome is a term used to describe the scenario where a client goes silent after you have delivered the final product. It is very alarming for any professional and can lead to consequences such as loss of potential leads, breaking of goodwill, and damage to one’s reputation.
The good thing about this syndrome is that it’s not going to happen every time.
Sometimes, clients or customers may not be fully satisfied with a service or product they have received and they will go silent out of courtesy or respect for the service provider. This can also happen when there are issues with payment or delivery of the final product.
Try and establish rapport with the client, get them on the phone instead of emailing them, listen to their concerns and see how you can support and rectify them.
Silence is easy to try and finds a process to stay in touch regularly.
How to Figure out Exactly What Went Wrong and Fix the Problem
Customer dissatisfaction is a common and costly problem that can be avoided if we know what to look for and how to fix it.
There are many reasons why customers get dissatisfied, and one of the most common reasons is that they feel like they’re not being heard. Time to open up your communication channels
It’s important to show customers that you care about them and their problems. Being empathetic shows them you respect them as a person, not just a customer.
If you rectify the issue quickly, customers will feel like they’re being heard and serve as your best advocates for word-of-mouth marketing in this digital age where social media has such a large reach-in spreading information.
The Future of Businesses is Customer-Centric ……
In the future, businesses is customer-centric. So, here’s how you do it.
In a customer-centric business, there is no such thing as a “salesperson.” There is only a “customer success person.” Here’s how to make this change.
1. Change your internal dialogue from “selling” to “customer success”.
2. Include customers in all internal meetings and discussions about product or company initiatives, etc.
3. Make sure any new hires have the right mindset and skills for this type of work before they start employment with you
4. Change what you measure from quantity of activity to qualitative measure for customer satisfaction
5. Share success stories with other employees as often as possible
If You Think You’re Going to Lose a Big Client, Follow These Steps
If you think you are going to lose a big client, it is best to follow these steps.
1. Start by thanking them for the opportunity and the time they have spent working with your company over the past years
2. Point out how much your company has grown since they began working with you
3. Explain that while this is unfortunate news, it may be a great opportunity for them to work with another company that can better meet their needs
4. Offer to assist them in finding a replacement for your services if possible
5. Ask if there is anything else you can do for them before they leave.
In the modern business world, customer retention is a tough job to tackle. In order to maintain customer satisfaction, you need to understand how your customers feel and what they want.
Stay ahead of your competitors:
• Hold regular meetings with clients
• Solicit feedback on the product or service they’ve purchased
• Listen to their complaints and try to rectify them as soon as possible
