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How to Retain Your Clients and Customers

Interview with Richard Shapiro, The Center for Client Retention

1. sl What are the three most important steps business people need to take to retain customers?

RS One of the most important steps that people need to take is just to keep their customer lists or their data bases of customers (decision makers) up to date and complete. It's a simple place to start but it is often overlooked.

The second most important step is to have a strategy whenever you contact a customer, whether it is an existing customer or a new customer. What is your purpose in contacting the person? What do you say, what do you do? What information would you like to gather? What information would you like to provide them? How will this information exchange help you or the customer?

The third most important step is to have a proactive calling or visiting program in place to find out what is going on in an account. When you do contact the account, you'll want to gather strategic information that will help you retain the account. The worst question you could start with is something like "How is everything going?" Instead let the person know that the reason you are calling is to make sure that they are receiving the services they want at the level they need and that you would like to ask some questions so you can assess how well your company is doing at meeting their expectations. You can ask questions such as "What do they like best or find most valuable about using your product or service? If he or she were in charge of your company, what would he or she do differently,?"

You can open the conversation with a statement such as "I would like to get a better feeling for your situation since the last time we spoke. Has our service level been up to prior levels or has it been a problem?" You should also try to find out what percentage of the customer's business you have. This is vital information. Once you know that information you could ask "How could we increase that percentage? What would you do if you were in charge of my company?"

Once you find out the percentage of business and how you can get more, find out how you compare against your competition. Are you as good and why? How do you compare on pricing, service or new products? People will usually open up when you ask them open ended questions.

2. sl What are the most common mistakes businesses make that drive customers away?

RS Communication is typically the biggest problem. For example, when there is a problem with the product or service or a question about who to contact or about service issues that have not been resolved, that's where you are vulnerable to competition. In a business relationship, if you don't continually communicate with your customers you don't know when you have already lost the account. They could be buying more from the competition, since it's unusual for people to only buy from one supplier.

3. sl What can a business do that is innovative to improve their image with clients?

RS They can and should acknowledge the customer's loyalty or how long they have been a customer. I'm not a believer in the anniversary cards, but a simple acknowledgment in a letter you send to them will go a long way to let them know you value the relationship.

4. sl Are there any differences between what small and large businesses need to do to retain clients?

RS Usually a large business has more resources in the field, so they can visit the customers on site. A small company may have to do those things over the phone. There is no reason why a small company can't do the same thing. The large businesses, their biggest problem is communication when they have turnover, and someone new takes over an account. They should have formalized customer feedback. On the other hand, it needs to be real. If the new rep calls the customer and says that he or she is now working on the account and wants to provide a high level of service, the customer might be thinking "Someone said that to me last year." With formalized feedback, someone else besides the rep can review the relationship with the customer to ensure that there is nothing that the rep is overlooking.

I like the concept of putting the customer in your shoes, "What would you do differently?" For example, the customer may say," I need you to get the product to us faster or be more flexible in your terms."

5. sl What should someone do if they have lost a customer?

RS When I get a call from one of my clients who has lost an important customer, I offer to go with them to their customer and ask the customer as many questions, as possible, to find out what happened and how we can win them back. I offer to go because customers are often more comfortable speaking with a third party in feedback situations. We ask questions such as "What is the one thing we would have to do to make you come back?"

Shapiro is president of the Center for Client Retention. The Center helps organizations develop more effective communication and feedback programs to develop higher customer loyalty and retention.

For more information on how we can assist you in conducting customer surveys, call salesleaders.com on 800-4321-WIN or send us an e-mail at information@salesleaders.com.

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