August 04, 2022

5 Ways To Dramatically Increase Customer Retention

Name: JSL Marketing & Web Design - Dallas Office
Address: 2121 N Pearl St. Floor 3,, Dallas, TX, 75201, US
Telephone: 877.514.0276
Price range: $$$

If you can dramatically increase customer retention, your business is going to go to the next level! However, that’s a whole lot easier said than done. It’s like saying, “if you score more points than your opponent in a basketball game, you’ll win.” It’s technically true, but it’s very hard to get any insight from that sentence.

A lot of businesses focus on gaining new business, which is a valid business strategy. However, oftentimes, merely reducing a business’s client attrition rate can impact revenue much more than gaining new business. By some estimates, retaining and growing a current customer is significantly easier than gaining net new clients. One study found a 60% chance of closing a deal with a current client versus a 5% chance with a new prospect!

The right customer retention and marketing strategy can pay huge dividends. Keeping top-notch clients may be increasingly difficult in the digital age, but evaluating how you’re working to retain your current customers is critical.

To help you keep and grow your customers, the marketing experts at JSL Marketing & Web Design put together their thoughts on how to keep and grow your best accounts. Read on to learn more!

Common Customer Retention Terms

Customer Churn Rate: A calculation of how many customers are lost over a given time interval. Usually, this is measured by the quarter or physical year.
Customer Lifetime Value: A measure of the lifetime value your business will reap if the client remains. Essentially, how much a given client will be worth over time for your business.
Health Score: A measure of your relationship with a client’s health. There are multiple ways of measuring this and multiple scales. 1-10 and 1-5, with the largest number being ‘Great’ and the lowest being the greatest risk of a lost customer, are two common systems of measurement.
Brand Ambassadors: Customers who are so thrilled with your solution that they promote your solution to their circles. Essentially, they’re so thrilled with your brand that they’re giving you free word-of-mouth and helping you reach new customers.

6 Ways To Increase Customer Retention

Customer Retention Strategy 1: Offer Dedicated Account Support:

This might be a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many businesses don’t assign dedicated sales or customer success to their biggest accounts and best customers. This approach might not work in every industry. It’ll be hard to offer a dedicated CSM to quick-service restaurant patrons, for instance. Still, even if you can’t offer a unique sales rep or CSM for every customer, be sure that you have a customer service department or rep to field customer questions. Quick and helpful resolution of client questions is an opportunity to earn the trust of your patrons. Failure to do so could lose you a customer.

Customer Retention Strategy 2: Constantly Remarket To Your Existing Customers:

Many businesses put the majority of their marketing efforts into gaining new customers. There’s nothing wrong with this approach! However, it’s not the only bucket of potential revenue out there! If a business is trying to market to past customers, they’re likely reaching out to customers who have purchased in the past but are not active clients. That’s a mistake, in our opinion!

Your existing customer base is, statistically, the most likely to purchase from you. However, few businesses actually see their existing customers as marketing targets. Any upsell or retention strategies for existing clients are usually left in the hands of Sales or the Client Success team, often without any input from marketing. That’s a huge miss!

To help prepare your Sales team for a quick and easy renewal cycle, prepare a great marketing campaign for your existing customers. Your revenue will climb as a result!

Customer Retention Strategy 3: Conduct Autopsies of Exiting Customers:

Typically, customer retention is left to Sales and the client services team. These teams usually do their best to answer clients promptly, offer strategic solutions, and create a simple process. There’s nothing wrong with focusing client-facing roles on these metrics, but this comes with a risk. What if your client services teams are focusing on solving the wrong problems?

That’s why we recommend asking departing clients WHY they’re leaving. These autopsies offer insight into potential weaknesses and areas of improvement that you otherwise wouldn’t have uncovered. Maybe your customer service team is overworked, and response times to questions are irksome for your clients. Maybe your product has a huge problem that no amount of creative selling and customer service can solve. Maybe one of your competitors has found and exploited a weakness of your value proposition and is siphoning existing customers away from you.

Regardless of what the problem is, try and schedule some sort of debriefing with as many exiting clients as possible. These conversations might not be fun, but they will teach you a lot about your clients and your business strategy.

Customer Retention Strategy 4: Create A Customer Loyalty Program:

Customer loyalty programs aren’t just to increase sales. They also increase client retention by keeping you as a client’s preferred partner. Why would a customer go across town for dinner when your rewards programs offer them half-priced bottles of wine? Reward programs also help by making frequenting your business a habit among your loyal customers.

Remember, the goal of this program isn’t to offer discounts for any customer. It’s to incentivize your top clients or loyal brand advocates to keep purchasing from you. Per that goal, make sure that you’re thinking through your program before launching.

Make Sure Your Loyalty Program Offers What Your Customers Want
Crunch The Numbers on What You Can Offer
Ensure That Your Loyalty Program Is Reserved For Only Select Customers.
Beta Test Your Loyalty Program With Select Customers To Determine Pros & Cons.

Customer Retention Strategy 5: Integrate Yourself With Your Existing Customers:

The term “integrate” can mean a lot of different things in different industries. For an e-commerce store, it can be through saving a customer’s information for streamlined checkout. A market research website can be automated reporting about market changes. Even merely sending promotional emails about new deals and discounts to your customer list via email marketing is a great way to connect with your clients. Regardless of what it looks like, it’s important to find ways to make it as easy as possible for your clients to purchase and stay with you.

Increase Your Customer Retention With JSL Marketing & Web Design

We recommend, In addition to the process and operations tips listed out above, constantly remarketing and staying top of mind for your clients. There are a plethora of ways to do this!

Email Marketing: Keep your brand top of mind with your existing customers through timed email marketing campaigns.
Reputation Marketing: Reach out to existing customers and try to get as many positive Google reviews as possible!
Print Collateral: If you have a new solution or product to promote, use properly branded and visually enticing printed content to educate your customer’s executive team!
Custom Strategies: Every business is different. Talk to our experts to design a custom client retention marketing strategy custom-tailored to your needs.

Fill Out The Contact Form To Get In Touch With Our Experts!

July 18, 2019

What’s More Important: Passion or Profit?

Passion or profit, which should you care about, listen to, and follow? This is a question that comes up in the business world (especially with startups) often, and much like ‘Nature vs Nurture’ everyone wants a clear cut, black and white, simple answer.

But that isn’t how business works, and it certainly isn’t how life works. So, instead of giving you a simple answer, let’s talk about the benefits and pitfalls of both passion and profits, as well as the ways they connect.

I think the true answer to ‘passion vs profit’ isn’t nearly as simple as many entrepreneurs would have you believe.

Profit:

The Pitfalls of Profit

Yes, gaining and increasing profit is what most businesses are all about when it comes down to it, but this cannot be your one and only goal. If it is, you might have a successful business, but you will end up with more than a few enemies, unhappy employees, a bad reputation, and maybe a bad soul, too.

Those who say profits should be number one are being pragmatic, but they are also oversimplifying the debate by narrowing it down to the argument that a business with profits, but no passion can survive, whereas the opposite (a business with no profits but passion) is not sustainable.

The above may be true, but a business without passion is still doomed as well, it just might make some money along the way.

The Benefits of Profit

This one should be easy to see. As I said above, a business without passion but that has profit flowing in can survive, which does mean that profit is important.

Additionally, when your business starts making money, you feel better about your investment, about your business idea, and even about yourself. Having your hard work pay off is not a bad thing, and it should be celebrated – albeit in moderation.

Passion:

The Pitfalls of Passion

Passion is often talked about as if it is the ultimate goal and best characteristic of entrepreneurs, but really, passion is just a piece of the puzzle.

Without balance, you really aren’t going to find success, instead, you’ll burn yourself out, burn others out, and potentially run your business into the ground.

Passion is a lot like profits in a way – meaning you need both, but in moderation and within a delicate balance.

Only caring about one thing (either passion or profits) will not ultimately serve your company, your customers, or your employees in the long run.

The Benefits of Passion

Just like we talked about for profits, the benefits of passion are easy to see. Passion makes you believe in something, work hard for it, and keep trying even when there are obstacles.

This is why I disagree with the argument that says a profitable business without passion can survive, because it really can’t. It might make money for a while, but if you aren’t willing to fight to keep it going, and you don’t take any enjoyment out of your business and success, then you are just as doomed to failure as the passion-filled, unprofitable business.

So, What’s the Answer?

The False Solution: Passionate About Profits

No, this is also not the answer to the age-old passion vs profit debate, as this is really just ‘profits in a new costume. If you are only passionate about your profits, then you aren’t actually passionate – you just love money.

Instead of choosing the above (often promoted) solution, go a little deeper and choose a ‘both/and’ answer instead of an ‘either/or’ answer.

Meaning, choose both passion and profit, not just one of the other, but balance them both with each other, common sense, your internal compass, and the advice of those close to you that you trust.

The Real Solution: Make Your Passion Profitable

You need to be passionate, and you need to be profitable, but there is no reason you cannot be both. Use the good parts of both of these goals to temper the bad parts, and make your passion profitable without losing your passion, or missing out on profits.

Easy to say but harder to do? Take a look at my company, which I am passionate about (as is my entire team), and which is highly profitable.

JSL Marketing & Web Design started out because my wife and I wanted to help the Dallas market and local businesses succeed, and because we were passionate (but tempered with common sense and healthy limits) we were able to make it a success, which increased out profits.

We still do the same today, using our passion to help our profits, and our profits to assist our passion.

This is the true answer to the old debate of passion vs profit: it isn’t either/or, it’s both/and.

Stay Tuned for More Thoughts on Business, Sales, & Startups as well as the Launch of JamesLeff.com

July 05, 2019

4 Common Management Mistakes You Need to Avoid (And How to Avoid Them)

Managing isn’t easy, especially as times change and the workplace is constantly evolving. However, there are a few common management mistakes that have stood the test of time – unfortunately.

Let’s look at a few of the most common management mistakes and how to avoid them so you can keep your business growing and your employees satisfied – all while improving as a manager and a company.

Micromanaging: Bad for Your Team & You

We all know micromanaging isn’t a great management style, but it isn’t just because it burns you out by trying to do the job of everyone (though this is a negative side effect of micromanaging your team and their projects). It also annoys everyone who works under you, as they can often feel that you don’t trust them or that you doubt their abilities.

Consider if the roles were switched and you were working on a project that you have experience in and your boss required their approval for each component of your project, even if they didn’t have as much experience in it as you did.

How would you feel? Would you feel valued and trusted? Probably not.

Instead, I have found that giving your employees the space to learn, grow, and improve on their own is the best way to motivate them to become better and self-sufficient.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you can take this to the extreme and be a ‘hands-off’ manager either. As in most things in life, the goal is balance. You need to know what areas need your input and approval, and which do not.

It might be a long journey to finding that perfect middle ground, and that middle ground might shift at times, too – that’s okay.

Just make sure you aren’t swinging too far to either extreme – micromanaging or non-managing – and you should be just fine.

Not Listening: Bad for Your Business & You

This is a huge problem for managers in larger companies (though small companies can suffer from this as well). This ‘not listening’ often stems from thinking you know enough, or know better, or at least that’s how your employees will look at it.

Listening can improve your business as well as yourself and your team, as there is something to learn from everyone, especially if your employees’ day looks different than your own.

Maybe they work with clients or customers more and have ideas about how to make a process more streamlined or convenient. Maybe they work with a program or online tool that you don’t have to work with, and therefore they have insights into how to improve it. Or maybe they simply have an idea or skillset you don’t have – listening will never hurt, only help, your business.

Instead of brushing off the comments, concerns, or ideas of your employees, encourage this type of dialogue and listen carefully. This will make your employees feel valued and teach them to listen better as well – to others, customers, and management.

Not Communicating: Bad for Your Team

Not communicating is different than not listening – because not listening means not being receptive to what others are saying, while not communicating means you aren’t sending out clear lines, instructions, or expectations.

A team that communicates well, from the very top of management all the way down to the new hire, is a team that will succeed.

Communication gives your employees a clear idea of what you need, what you want, and what they should be learning or building upon. This means they don’t have to stress over what you meant or what you want – and can instead do it.

Additionally, being a good communicator will make your team comfortable coming to you to ask questions which is great for both your team and your company.

Ask your team how you are at communicating and how you could be better. Touch base often in team meetings or in performance reviews both for your team and yourself, so everyone is on the same track and page.

Not Growing as a Leader: Bad for Everyone

This is a big one that many managers miss – you have to be growing and improving just as much as your team and employees have to be growing and improving.

Stagnation isn’t good at any level of a business, so work hard to improve as a leader, a business person, and an industry or thought leader.

If you aren’t constantly working at learning more about your field, researching new options, or learning about breakthroughs and trends in your industry, how can you expect your team to do it?

It’s important to remember that your team is busy too, so if you are expecting them to consistently improve and learn more, you need to be willing to do the same. Not only your business should always be working towards growth – but it’s management, too.

From Management & Sales Coaching to Other Consulting Services, Let’s Connect & Improve How Your Business Runs

I would love to connect with you and learn more about your business, management style, as well as the successes and difficulties your business is facing.

I offer management and sales coaching, business consulting services, and digital services. And with my long history of management as well as successful business planning with JSL Marketing & Web Design, I know I can help your company meet their goals, too.

Check back soon for the launch of my own website, JamesLeff.com, or find a new article here, written by me every week.

Tag: business management