Our customer is FLEMINGTON KENSINGTON COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRE INC. We come back every Saturday to clean their office.
One of the key reasons for your success will be the fact that you have been dealing with your clients personally and have therefore been supplying a high level of service. As you expand, however, you will find that you have less daily contact with your clients, and this may in time lead to retention problems if the staff you employ to look after your clients are not meeting the minimum standards your clients have come to expect from your company.
While large cleaning companies accept a certain level of churn in their cleaning accounts –simply adding new accounts when they lose old ones – retention is extremely important for success. Poor retention means that any new accounts that are added are simply replacing ones lost, with the result that you are merely treading water, not growing.
The following, therefore, are ten tips on retention:
- Market to your existing clients: your current customers are already doing business with you and are more likely to buy from you again. Focus most of your time, efforts, and resources on better serving your current clients. Go deeper instead of wider.
- Be consistent in your approach and interactions: treat your clients with honesty, humour and respect – and maintain this over time. If you are consistent with them over time, they will see you as dependable, credible and trustworthy.
- Follow through on your commitments: if you promise to send information or to follow up, do it. You will gain loyalty and trust by always doing what you say you will do.
- Connect with your customers: find out about their lives, their hopes, goals and desired outcomes. Ask questions that encourage a deeper sense of shared understanding. The greater the level of connection, the greater the mutual satisfaction.
- Have fun: it’s easy to get caught up in goals, outcomes and deliverables. Of course these are important, but clients also want to work with people who enjoy what they do. The more fun you can have while providing strong outcomes, the longer your clients will stay.
- Position yourself as a resource for life: let your customers know you will be around for a long time. Let them know they can get back to you whenever they need you. This can help to differentiate your company from your competitors, who may just be in it for the short term.
- Ask for feedback and input: at some point in the working relationship, solicit feedback. Ask your clients how they feel about working with you and ask if they have suggestions for how the working relationship or outcomes could be improved. Asking for their ideas shows that you care about their opinions and value their contributions.
- Share resources: do you know of a good book your clients might benefit from reading? Tell them about it. Do you have the name of someone who could help a client move ahead on their business plan? Tell them about it. Sharing resources is a terrific way to build loyalty and satisfaction.
- Reward them for staying with you: consider implementing a loyalty scheme where your long-term clients are rewarded for staying with you. You might offer them gifts, products or services for a certain level of ongoing participation with your business.
- Keep learning: the more you focus on gaining new knowledge, skills and experiences, the more you have to offer your clients. The more you have to offer, the more they will benefit. The more they benefit, the longer they stay. Keep focused on your own professional growth and learning. Both you and your clients will benefit.