Losing customers is hard, and everyone who has been in business for a while has experienced this. The pain varies. Losing a customer who generates a small amount of revenue might simply be inconvenient. Losing a customer who represents 30%, 40% or 50% of your business can be devastating.
But it is a fact of business life.
Usually I see much more dramatic activity going on when a company loses a client than there was before the loss happened. There are formal and informal assessments about what happened and why. Emails, texts and other correspondence will be closely scrutinized. Internally, it will almost feel like depositions are being conducted on those who interfaced directly, or even indirectly, with the customer. Last-ditch phone calls and maybe even site visits will be made to the now-former customer in an effort to get them back. Managers will get involved and, if the loss is severe enough, the president or CEO might step in, too.
All of this information will be picked apart and reconstructed, and those who are guilty of minor and major offenses will be held accountable. Heads will roll.
What if all that after-the-fact energy had been directed at maintaining a better customer relationship in the first place?
Usually, this sort of big loss doesn’t happen overnight.
Recently, I was at a client’s office where the executive team was discussing the loss of a high-profile customer. There was a lot of talk about what had happened over the past 12 months and why the client had not renewed the contract.
We all realized that over a period of months the contacts at the customer’s office had become less responsive and engaged. Where they had once replied to emails and voicemails right away, they had begun to respond with less promptness. The change was slow and hard to detect, but, looking back, it was clear that it had progressed as these types of situations often do.
Not surprisingly, most companies have their best people working with their largest customers, but it’s not enough to simply service these clients well. I coach savvy high achievers to read the tea leaves—to notice changes in behavior and recognize what might be coming next.
They have to be able to detect when a relationship begins to change. After the fact, you can see it and see it clearly, but in the normal “swarm” of day-to-day work with emails, meetings, texts, etc., you might not notice when the relationship changes.
This means that everyone associated with an account—the project managers, salespeople support staff, whomever—needs to slow down and assess the relationships they have with their clients. Look for signs that things are changing; learn to recognize the “feel” of a healthy relationship. If you pay attention, you often can see the problem developing when emails and texts are the main source of communication. Monitor those electronic conversations. It’s easy to do since there’s a record of them.
Also, know that email is great for so many things—confirming meetings, giving technical data, answering questions, etc.—but nothing replaces talking on the phone or, better yet, talking face-to-face. If a client is becoming indifferent or unsatisfied, you can more easily and correctly gauge that change in their tone and facial expressions and body language.
Companies will always lose clients. But there are ways to repair a failing relationship before it gets to that point. Read the tea leaves. Watch for changes in attitudes and behaviors. The best way to do this is to get away from your computer and off your smart phone and actually go see the clients.
Do you have a customer relationship that is not what it used to be? If the answer is “maybe” or “yes,” go see ‘em! Do it today! Be proactive! Focus your attention on the relationship to determine what’s going wrong and figure out how to get back to a healthy relationship.
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