9 Ways to Lose a Client
In a competitive business market, you want to keep your good clients while building to gain new ones. Not only is it more expensive to gain a new client, a long-term client will provide financial stability to your business, along with loyalty, business continuity, potential referrals, and the opportunity to push creative boundaries together. You can get over bumps in the road, mistakes, and communication glitches with a well-established relationship. Some bad practices can put you at risk of losing established clients, so to avoid the following:
1. Set Unrealistic Expectations- In the desire to win over a client, you might over-promise. Make sure your promises are things you have complete control over. Otherwise, tell them the true odds. A sports coach cannot promise an athlete an Olympic medal, but he can tell them what success he has had with others, how much work it will take, and how hard he will work to give them every opportunity for success.
2. Stop Marketing to Your Clients- Never assume loyalty alone will keep you together. Keep marketing to your current clients by reminding them of wins and checking in with them for feedback.
3. Focus on New Clients in Lieu of Your Longer Relationships- Your first child never wants to be bumped for the adorable, new baby.
4. Step up Only at Contract Renewal Time- Your client has been evaluating the relationship long before that. We have all experienced this with vendors. They realize it is time to re-up and start shaping up. Do not be that vendor.
5. Fail to Keep Agreements- You can meet or exceed expectations 99 percent of the time, but the time you fail on something important could be the time a client negatively talks about you to friends, colleagues, or on social media.
6. Fail to Ask About Their Priorities- Just because it is clear to you what your client needs to do next, you may forget to take a step back and ask about their priorities and expectations. Even if you are right, it does not matter if it is not what your client wants.
7. Fail to Set up Roles and Responsibilities- Success is more likely to occur, and usually happens more quickly, when everyone knows their roles. It is a good move to clarify what you do and do not do, as well as what your client will or will not do. It will help avoid bumping into each other or overlooking tasks later on.
8. Believe "Ground Rules" are for the Playground- Call them whatever you want, but clarify how you will contact each other, who to contact for what, and any other points that are significant for communication, meetings, and follow-up. If rules are created from the get-go, then less misunderstanding and untangling will follow.
9. Skip Orientation- Both you and your client want to be excited about the investment in your partnership. You may have delivered this in the sales pitch, but if you can add to it by welcoming them to your company family and celebrating an anniversary as partners as years pass, then items from #7 and #8 will continue to be seamless.
Customer attrition can be more costly than employee turnover in direct and indirect dollars. As human resources experts will tell you that it is critical to retain and reward your top talent, and the same theory applies to your valued clients.
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