In an intensely competitive and economically challenging environment, such as the one we are in, many professional services firms tend to focus their marketing and selling efforts on attracting new clients. While it’s necessary to attract new clients, it’s also critical to retain your current clients.
Unfortunately, your clients are more likely to switch providers than you might think.
In RainToday’s How Clients Buy: 2009 Benchmark Report, we surveyed over 200 buyers of professional services and found that across service industries:
- Only 48% of clients are “very satisfied” with their service provider
- 60% of clients would consider switching service providers
Here’s the data by industry:
How satisfied are your clients? And, how likely are they to switch?
Consider this: given today’s business environment, it’s likely that other firms are marketing more aggressively than ever to your clients. And, as this data suggests, a good portion of your clients may be open to having conversations with your competitors.
Wouldn’t you rather retain and grow your current clients than continuously fill your pipeline with new prospects? It’s certainly a more cost-effective approach.
What does it take to build the type of relationships with your clients that keep them loyal and coming back to your firm year after year? We asked nine client loyalty experts for their “one piece of advice” on how to develop client loyalty, and some themes emerged:
- Be up front with your clients; don’t allow for surprises
- Get to know your clients’ business and industries beyond the areas with which you are currently exploring with them
- Develop personal relationships with your clients
- Be proactive with your ideas
- Get to know others in the client organization beyond your direct contact
Photo credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saneboy/ / CC BY 2.0
