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Six steps to effective client retention

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27th Oct 2009
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Now is a great time to attract new clients, but if you don't look after your existing ones, your practice will never grow, advises Rosie Beasley.

Clients are much less loyal during a downturn and are constantly looking for the best deal, so small firms can no longer rely on client loyalty in the same way that they used to. Satisfying the needs of clients isn’t just about being polite to them or returning their calls promptly; it’s about going the extra mile and exceeding their expectations in order to remain competitive.

On the flip side, now is a great time to attract new business, as clients are more willing to try new companies and services than ever before. Increasing your client base is important in order for a business to grow, but it will only grow if the clients it already has stick around. Without this core stability, it would be like trying to plug a hole in a bucket with sand.

Fortunately, it is easy to develop a client retention programme and it can take only a small amount of time to implement. Each business is different and the clients have varying needs and priorities, but below are a few general tips to get you in the right frame of mind to implement a solid client retention strategy.

Be available
It’s important for your clients to know how to contact you if they have a question or a problem, so create several avenues for this purpose and monitor them regularly. A dedicated phone number (or extension) and a dedicated email address should be your key contact methods and then you can try out new things like Twitter or online forums to go that extra mile.

Implement a company-wide mandate for dealing with enquiries

This simply means that all employees should follow the same procedure when dealing with clients. For example, make it compulsory that all client enquiries should be dealt with in less than 48 hours.

Keep in touch
Even if the nature of your business means that your clients ‘buy’ from you just once a year, it doesn’t mean they should feel forgotten or neglected. Regular communications (e.g. letters, emails or phone calls) can make a world of difference. If you’ve got a specific reason to get in touch, such as a special offer or new service on offer, they will have a reason to re-connect with your practice between their usual interaction times with you.

Referral rewards
This is one of the best ways to maintain client loyalty and bring in new business at the same time. Clients tend to recommend products and services to their friends and colleagues, so if you give them a reward for recommending your business you are giving them an added benefit - plus you gain cheap new leads.

Personalise
Clients want to feel valued and treated as real people, not just as numbers on a spreadsheet. You can do this by personalising your communications with them and even just by remembering their name if you bump into them at a networking event, for example. Keeping a good database with full details of your clients is the key to giving the personal touch.

Special offers are not just for new clients
Often new clients get the best deals, but it’s a good idea to offer exclusive deals and benefits to existing clients. Make sure they know that these offers are for existing clients only. Doing so will reassure them that they are valued and not forgotten about.

Client retention is not expensive compared with generating new business so it makes sense to spend time on both areas. Forward thinking such as this will help carry a business through the recession and towards successful growth in the future.
 

Rosie Beasley is business correspondent at www.simplybusiness.co.uk

Read more from Rosie Beasley on our sister site, BusinessZone.co.uk.

 

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