Stop loosing clients!

Consider the following:You have to put more and more effort into finding new customers to replace the ones you are losing. FACTIt is about five to ten times easier (depending upon your business) to keep an existing customer than to find a new one. FACTMore than half the time you don't know why you really lost the client. FACTDissatisfied customer will tell 9 to 10 other people about your poor service. FACTMany small businesses do not have a customer retention programme yet it makes more sense than starting yet another marketing campaign to find new customers. FACTThe benefits of improved customer retention / service will pay for itself many times over.If you are a one man band and you turn up every week on the agreed day you can still go that extra mile and offer improved customer service but it's a hell of a lot more important if you run a team of staff.Putting in the time and effort to really wow your clients and hopefully not lose some of them really does pay dividends.Just one quick simple question .. "How many of us know the birthdays of our clients?" Just think what a birthday card / bunch of flowers being delivered on their special day would do.There are so many simple measures that can be taken to go that extra mile, end result better customer rentention and more referrals.

An interesting debate. My business over the years has been built on repeat business and recommendations from existing clients as I don't advertise. I absolutely agree that high quality good value service is the key to success. I also agree with Pro Guard that cleaning up well is vital - many of my customers see the latter as a differentiator.

However, I also think that it's important to recognise that clients have many choices and to provide an appropriate token of your appreciation when they place another job with you or recommend you to someone else. For repeat customers I offer 10% discounts on all new work (excluding garden maintenance). When I win work that clients have recommended me for I generally say 'thank-you' with a bottle of something appropriate.

As part of my professional image I do choose to wear a 'uniform'. However I keep this low key and simple - my t-shirt and cap have my company logo, name and telephone number on them. It helps to give the customer confidence which is important - a large enough number have commented on this as being an indicator that I'm a 'real' business for me to think it worthwhile - and in reality my clothing costs me no more than the 'ordinary' version .

I am currently debating whether to have my van sign written and would welcome you thoughts on the pros and cons of this.

Replies

Sustainable Land Management July 18, 2009 at 7:28pm

We often give away a plant, a decent one too, which will improve the finished job as well. The hard reality is that staff or sub contractors can do more damage than anything else - as well as walk away and set up on their own.
To have a client even after every thing else is finished continue to phone and wish for assistance is a major plus and whilst it can be annoying it should not be ignored but embraced as your additional input can be worth far more than any advert by way of the word of mouth network.
One small point as well - relates to Robin Ainsworth's discussion also - sometimes in walking away and forgetting about that bad customer can actually boost your business, they are often like that with many people and to be able to keep to the moral high ground will ultimately make you seem more professional in the eyes of their friends and neighbours who know what they are like.
Andrew Garner July 18, 2009 at 9:06pm

My clients are fairly static I have had one or two problems, but I just walk away. What seems weird to me is that virtually all my clients are now friends i have become an important element of their lives and as such my remit goes well beyond the maintenance of their gardens. Would a plumber, electrician have the same rapport i doubt it and yet they can charge a lot more. Saying this though I have no formal qualification beyond my tickets, but I know my plants and have self taught myself up, but there is another chap who does the rounds here with a BSc in garden design and he can charge no more than £12 an hour.
I do the same as Cornwall landscaping an occasional plant goes a long way, maybe it's a Cornish thing
Graeme @ BGS July 18, 2009 at 9:28pm

It's horses for courses but personally with over hundreds of regular residential clients and nearly 600 ad hoc clients that would call us for one off jobs every year or two.

Given the fact that half the clients we never see and considering that in the Surrey stockbroker belt nearly every other van is either lawn care, garden maintenance or landscaper we therefore need or more importantly want to go the extra mile.

I can count on one hand the number of clients who have parted with us over the last two years (not one being for poor service / quality of work) and yet we have ditched about 150 who didn't match our customer profile / business model. Many clients have been with us for more years than I care to remember.

Whilst I agree that quality of work should win hands down everytime the majority of our clients appreciate the extra little touches.

As I said, horses for courses.
Donny Bryan July 20, 2009 at 3:29pm

An interesting debate. My business over the years has been built on repeat business and recommendations from existing clients as I don't advertise. I absolutely agree that high quality good value service is the key to success. I also agree with Pro Guard that cleaning up well is vital - many of my customers see the latter as a differentiator.

However, I also think that it's important to recognise that clients have many choices and to provide an appropriate token of your appreciation when they place another job with you or recommend you to someone else. For repeat customers I offer 10% discounts on all new work (excluding garden maintenance). When I win work that clients have recommended me for I generally say 'thank-you' with a bottle of something appropriate.

As part of my professional image I do choose to wear a 'uniform'. However I keep this low key and simple - my t-shirt and cap have my company logo, name and telephone number on them. It helps to give the customer confidence which is important - a large enough number have commented on this as being an indicator that I'm a 'real' business for me to think it worthwhile - and in reality my clothing costs me no more than the 'ordinary' version .

I am currently debating whether to have my van sign written and would welcome you thoughts on the pros and cons of this.
Sustainable Land Management July 20, 2009 at 4:06pm

would having a board outside whilst you are working on any particular job, not with just your logo and details, but with an umbrella group - such as the Landscape Network or whoever, not make a difference? A simple way of showing a professional edge as such. This is what is done by law in France on construction sites and it is a quick and easy way of registering the companies standards and professional association.