customer retention strategies for small business
Have you ever had one of those moments where you’ve been working your bits off to find new clients, only to lose a long-standing client who you thought was a dead cert to stick around long term?
Feels like a kick in the teeth doesn’t it?
It can take so much effort to gain new clients – loads of marketing, meetings, zoom calls, endless schmoozing, web pages, blogs updated, you name it. But then one of them slips off the hook with no warning & it feels like all that effort has gone down the pan!
The thing I see constantly though is that ambitious small businesses have a clear marketing / lead generation strategy (that doesn’t mean you always stick to it of course, let’s not glamourise this too much!) Buuuut on the flip side I very very rarely see a customer retention strategy in those same small businesses.
Retaining customers is just left to chance.
The typical ‘strategy’ I see for this is … If I do a great job surely they’ll stay?
But we both know that hope and winging it isn’t a great growth strategy. And simply being amazing isn’t going to guarantee you’ll retain your best customers.
But before you start banging your head against the desk and sobbing, there IS an answer, and it’s probably much simpler than you think. Hurrah!!
Yes, you need to create a customer retention strategy. But it should only take an hour or so to develop it, and then sticking to the plan can be a really simple and quick process.
And just imagine how differently your business would feel if you retained every customer for twice as long.
Imagine getting away from that gut-wrenching feeling when you read those unexpected cancellation emails. That always hit at exactly the wrong time!
So this week’s video walks you through 3 key elements of a retention strategy, and then explains how to turn them into a simple, repeatable process that will help you hang on to your best clients for longer, so you have more reliable cashflow, better results from your marketing, and more consistency in your sanity – and who wouldn’t love a bit more of that!
Take a look and let me know which point particularly resonates with you.
And of course if this touches a nerve for you but you still feel overwhelmed by it, I’d love to help you build your own retention strategy so get in touch today and let’s book a call.
