We always strive to be a trustworthy partner for our clients, yet there are times where no matter how good we get at retention, a portion of our customer base will inevitably leave. Losing clients is as distressing as losing a boyfriend. All the efforts you put in, and ultimately they choose to leave you. It doesn’t feel good, literally, but there’s always some gains for every lost, and we have learned every mistake from these inevitable business situations. In order to avoid repeating the same mistake, we have to ask ourselves:
- Why did client choose to leave?
- Were client’s expectations being met?
- What can we do to get the client to stay?
- What went wrong?
- Do we care enough for them?
Here are few things we learned from losing a significant client:
We learned how to maintain customer relationships, better.
Building a good relationship with clients? That should not even be a question. One of the ways to retain a client is to establish trust. Do not take ethical shortcuts just so you can win a client’s heart in the first place but not delivering satisfactory results afterward. We should always understand clients’ needs and wants rather than shoving our products up in their face. A good salesman ought to be honest with every client, and take a genuine interest in the client’s concerns.
We learned to extend extraordinary customer service
It may seem annoying at first, but clients will love and cherish your care for them over time. Over-communication is a great way to boost reputation and gain more customer trust. Talk to them when something’s going haywire, buzz them occasionally to check out how their business is doing, or even go beyond your extent to offer more proactive solutions for them. Here’s a simple move: if a client sends an email and you have read but don’t have an update yet, just write them back. This will plant a perception in your client’s mind that you’ve got their back despite having nothing significant to show right now. This, in turn, builds trust.
We’ve made the mistakes once, and we’ll try our best to avoid them the second time. To all of us serving our respectable customers, now is the time to realize our mistakes and what can be done to fix them.
