Over a conversation with a friend today, he brought up a point that is so logical and practical in gaining more profits, but still not widely used enough till this day. That is, in order to maintain and make more money on top of what you already have, you need to constantly engage your whole client base, especially the ones whom have dropped off the radar.

Consider this:

If 10% of your client base becomes inactive for one reason or another, you would need to gather another 11% of new active clients to maintain the previous sales revenue, with just an additional 1% increase. We all know it is generally much harder to get a new client, than to maintain a current client. Just try getting one additional new opt-in, and you will understand what I mean. So, why not work on getting back that 10% who seemed to have disappeared?

Obviously, there are many reasons why a client of yours would seem to have stopped buying your product or service. They could have been dissatisfied with it, and decided not to spend another cent on you. One of your staff might have inadvertently turned them off with poor service or being insensitive to their needs. Or they might have found a seemingly better place which they felt their money would be better spent. They could have simply trickled away, with you becoming a forgotten entity due to infrequent email contact through your list.

You are losing much more than just inactive clients. Revenue, relationships, potential profits are just some of what you risk. Whatever it is, it is crucial that you find out the reasons for such attrition and how much. Following that, figure out how to bring these clients back. The advantages of this will include, but are not necessarily limited to:

• an inflow of previously lost revenue
• additional client referrals from these returning clients
• additional time and effort saved from having to find new clients to replace the ones who got away

Personally, one of the strongest incentives to do so would be the resulting new client referrals that you will receive. When you make an effort to recover the relationship you had with an inactive client, the measures you take to do so often require going an extra personal mile with more value. Such actions build a human dimension and emotional bond to the relationship. Psychologically, the client recognises this and the appreciation usually follows. They will view you as more than someone who just sells. When that happens, it does not take much for them to relay their positive experience to others. And your referral sources will grow. (Dare I say, viral marketing?)

In a future post, I will explore how we can re-engage these clients to rebuild relationships, what further ways we can use these experiences to grow our businesses and how to avoid such situations as much as possible.

Meanwhile, I would love to know your experiences with this, what you have done to improve it, and what you feel could be done more?

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