One of my clients who sells ads to small business owners, recently realized that his customers were trying to walk away from their 12-month advertising commitment.

After a few moments of discussion, we both learned two things:
1. We were only engaging his clients at the point-of-sale, and afterward with one to two emails per month.

2. His clients needed to be “resold” on their advertising investment each month in order to stay committed.

To overcome our challenge of clients wanting to leave becuase they didn’t see immediate return after one month of advertising, we came up with a plan to communicate with and market to his current clients on a monthly basis.

1. Send a handwritten thank you note after the initial sale. People rarely do it these days, and you’ll be appreciated for taking the time to thank your client.

2. Send a 3rd-party article that teaches your clients how to better leverage your product. In my client’s case, he is going to send small business owners articles about how to get better results from their marketing strategy.

3. Email a reminder of the terms of your agreement, described in words that benefit the customer. Example: Instead of saying, “you’re in a 12-month contract”, say “to reap rewards from marketing, it must be done consistently over the long-term. Your advertising agreement reinforces your success by helping you commit to 12-months of marketing that will reach your target market”.

4. Call them and randomly stop by. Be confident in building a long-term relationship with your client. Find out how their business is doing. Ask them what kind of results they’re getting from your product. Give them a referral to a new strategic partner or client.

5. Host events. Educational seminars and networking events are a great opportunity for you to add value to your relationship with a client, have positive client contact, and help them grow their business.

6. Send a monthly newsletter. Your newsletter should be 80% about them, and 20% about you. Share information that will help them leverage your product. Publish testimonials and pictures of happy clients. Remind them of important follow-up dates.

7. Engage in multiple communication channels. Some customers respond to email. Some only respond to text. With some folks, it’s only possible to get their attention when you call or stop by. Others, it’s best to reach them on Facebook or Twitter. To make sure you’re reaching everyone, communicate through every channel.

Retaining clients is hard work. If you have a simple yet robust strategy in place, you can keep clients happily coming back for years!

What other current-client marketing strategies have you used to improve retention?

Jamar Cobb-Dennard
jamar@jamarspeaks.com