Why do clients leave relationships with us? According to the
US Chamber of Commerce, there are various reasons that clients stop doing
business with us. While it may appear that we can do nothing about some of
these reasons, others are completely within our control, and we should take all
steps that may address any of the reasons.
1% of our customers will die, and we cannot prevent that. We
should have established relationships with other personnel of that business in
order to continue that partnership. 3% of our clients will move away, and 5%
will buy from a friend, but can we remain in the business relationship in spite
of those events?
9% of our clients will move to one of our competitors, and
we should have built our relationship in order to avoid that. We will lose 14% because
they are dissatisfied with our product or service, and that is within our area
of control. However, their dissatisfaction may be because they should never
have been our client in the first place, and that may also be our fault.
The bulk of our lost client base, 68%, leaves the relationship
with us because they perceive that they have been forgotten. We must never allow
our clients to believe that they are ignored or taken for granted. We spend
money, time, and effort on obtaining customers. We should spend some on making
those customers into the valued clients who refer business to us and have a long
time contract status with us.
If we practice Gratitude Marketing,
we do not lose clients because they believe that they are ignored or taken for
granted. We do not lose clients because we have not established a partnership with
them. Our clients know that they have a business partner that cares about their
success, their continued achievements in their business and personal lives.
They know that we have a relationship that benefits both parties.
There are clients that we will lose in spite of all that we
do to make them know that we are their partner in life and that we really care
about them. However, there are some clients that never should have been in
business with us, even if we have a networking relationship with them. There are
a number of our networking partners who will never be our customers, and should
not be. They just don’t need what we have to offer.
There are others who will never use whatever they may
purchase from us in the manner for which the product or service is intended or
designed. We should not have these people as customers, nor should we be
surprised when we lose them as customers. While we have a responsibility to
acquire the right customers, customers have a responsibility to make informed
buying decisions.
As business people we all have a responsibility to obtain
new customers. We also have an equal responsibility to retain as many customers
as we are able. While there are reasons that we may lose some customers that
may not be completely under our control, the 68% of lost customers are ones which
we can take action to prevent. We must not allow our customers to feel ignored
or forgotten.
Take action to make customers know that they are not taken
for granted. Practice Gratitude Marketing
and retain those clients that might perceive that we do care about them. Please
leave me your comments here, or email me at Jim@SOC4Now.com, or call me at 360-314-8691 to let
me have your thoughts.
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