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Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Time to Make an Appointment for your Annual Departed Client Check-Up

The calendar has been flipped and the New Year has been rung in. Organizations are compiling year-end results and communicating what new business has been sold. New client logos are exciting to share with your team, and business hums as new accounts turn into uncharted, prosperous relationships. The possibilities of a new relationship are down-right thrilling!

But then there’s also the bad news. By now organizations are also learning about clients that have departed. Service heads and business leaders are feeling the pain from taking down client logos and facing lost re-occurring revenue.

Wondering what you can do to turn that hurt into a healthy revitalizer for your organization? The answer is Departed Client research and analysis.

Right now, the first quarter of the business year, is the most opportunistic time to learn from the clients who chose to part ways with your organization last year.

Think of it like an annual physical. It’s common knowledge that making your annual physical with your doctor is one of the best ways to keep your health on track and / or address any health-related vulnerabilities. The annual check-up can be your trusted source to find out if you need to worry about that ache in your knee or stiffness in your back. Why not do the same when it comes to keeping your clients’ health on track? Wouldn’t it be beneficial to learn what aches and pains your ex-clients felt that caused them to leave, since those same issues are probably plaguing and endangering the clients still with you?

There’s no better way to learn how to retain your existing clients than learning from recently departed clients. Through a Departed Client program your organization will find out the real (often unexpected) reasons why clients are leaving. Such a program allows organizations to hear about service gaps and disappointments, misaligned sales expectations, technology glitches, product limitations, and pricing issues – just to name a few. A well-executed program will also identify which competitors are being selected to replace your company and why.

Retaining your existing customers by learning from those that have already left is the next best thing you can do for the overall health of your organization. There’s a way to stop taking those logos down…it’s time to go see the doctor.