Which is more important? Focussing on acquisition and new customers, or focussing on the retention of those customers you already have? Acquisition, or growth, is naturally more exciting isn’t it? It’s a win for the BDM, it’s more income for the business, it’s shows the results and efforts of the marketing team. There is atmosphere around new business, bells are rung, facebook announcements are made, it’s, well…sexier!
But what about retaining your current customers? This should be given the same amount of enthusiasm and energy as acquiring new ones and here’s why:
- Current customers are more likely to buy again. It takes a lot of time, effort and money to convert a new lead to a client. With current customers, the relationship is established, you (generally) trust one another, have rapport and they are more likely to purchase another product with you, list their other investments with you, sell through you
- Online Reputation - your current clients can and should be your biggest advocates. Let them do the selling for you! Word of mouth is so powerful and nothing travels faster than a bad review! Your current clients are a natural acquisition tool and one of your best assets, so don’t forget to look after it
- High levels of client retention mean you know exactly who your market is, what works, what doesn’t work, where to spend your marketing, how to set your budgets and projections for the company, giving you an overall better structure to the business.
What are you doing to retain your current clients? Do you know what your attrition rate is? Are you comfortable that when you do lose a client that you fully understand how and why and that they aren’t simply unhappy and going down the road for a 1% fee decrease? Do you have a “win-back” strategy in this instance?
R