Winning a new client can cost anywhere from five to 25 times more than keeping an existing one happy, according to a recent report in Harvard Business Review. As a business owner myself, this research resonates, as increased revenues by maintaining valuable and long-term client relationships has always proven a more fruitful way of doing business than taking an often fruitless stab in the cold calling dark.
Without wishing to sound like a broken record, maintaining valuable client relationships involves consistent engagement and winning brand loyalty. Of course this isn’t as easy as it sounds, and you’ll need to commit to some key activities to keep hard-won clients in your stable.
1. Build a strategy that focuses on client retention
Client retention starts with a strategy that focuses on the immediate period after you win the new business. It begins with the initial welcome to the business – a new client’s first impression is critical to the longevity of the relationship. It might be as simple as a welcome email from the principal to a new client, setting the ‘what next’ expectations. This communication should reconfirm how you will interact with them, and which planner from your business will be appointed to their account.
Once you get through the teething stage, client retention shifts to what my colleagues call the “ongoing provision of service” phase. In other words, those initiatives that keep clients engaged with your services. In many industries, rewards for loyalty work well. For example, you might consider giving long-term clients some extra advice ‘on the house’ for their loyalty, or reward them for sending a lead in your direction.
2. Maintain consistent communication
Staying in regular contact with clients is the key to retaining their business in a competitive marketplace. A regular client eNewsletter is a great method for maintaining engagement – just make sure it doesn’t get lost in the sea of emails that hit inboxes on a daily basis. To ensure your newsletter stands out from the crowd, you need to provide well-written and engaging content that educates. If writing content isn’t your forte, consider engaging a freelance financial journalist to assist.
As part of your newsletter, include relevant information that will add financial value – include this information as a link in your newsletter. This could be financial information from media outlets such as Professional Planner or Investment Magazine, information on legislative changes from the ATO or ASIC or interesting topics related to finance.
3. Keep it personal
From a sales perspective, keeping the customer contact personal builds a relationship and an enhanced level of trust. One of the best ways to keep your customer contact personal is to run regular events. Your clients meet the wider team, have the chance to discuss financial advice in a more relaxed setting, and can interact with other clients. Good account management is also crucial to keeping the relationship personal.
Ultimately, keeping clients in your paddock long-term is good for business. Still not convinced? A recent article published by Bain and Company (the brains behind the Net Promoter Score) shows that a 5 per cent lift in customer retention can increase profits by between 25 to 95 per cent. Therefore, take the time to build a retention strategy, as it will underpin your business success.
