This is the final chapter, if you’d like to catch up on any or all of the previous chapters, including this one, click here:
Chapter 7 – Contacting the Lost Client
Go through your records and see whom you’ve lost. Arrange them so you get in touch with your A-listers first.
When you get in touch with a lost customer or client make sure that the meeting is about them. Your desire is to be able to have the opportunity to once again help enrich their lives with your product or service. In order to do so you need to know what went wrong in the relationship.
If you lost them just due to their inactivity in renewing with you then the contact alone might be enough to move them into joining with you again. A “welcome back” incentive certainly won’t hurt things either.
If there’s been some kind of foul-up or lack of service then it’s time to up your game and woo them back with a free upgrade, or replacement, or a session of free service… something that shows you’re going to invest in earning their trust.
You’re not just “bribing” them to come back – you’re re-earning their trust. Plus you’re investing in their time as they explain to you problems you have in your processes – this feedback is going to help you retain multiples of customers, and that is priceless.
There’s another bonus in addition to the feedback – customers you’ve brought back are likely to be even more loyal and thereby more profitable.
Examples of How Companies Have Won Back Lapsed Clients
Vouchers or gift certificates. Half off or a quarter off or a dollar amount off of a purchase is hard to resist, and it gets those customers back into the habit of buying from you.
Offer a free maintenance check or tune-up.
Is your business subscription-based? Send out a letter just before the subscription expires. And again maybe a week after the expiration. And another a week after that. Each letter ups the offer a little, offering a little more enticement until it seems ridiculous to the customer that they wouldn’t take you up on your offer.
If you have a drop-in location like a health club or spa and you haven’t seen a client for some time send them a note or call with the idea of checking on them to see if everything is alright.
Whatever method you use, the idea is to get back into the client’s headspace, to remind them of how awesome your service or product is and how much of a benefit it added to their life.
One Last Thought
Your company is richer than you think. You’re wealthy with potential referrals and enticements that will make other businesses join forces with you.
Putting even a minimal amount of effort into making your clients and other businesses feel like they’re part of your company’s extended family can pay out in huge dividends, at a mere fraction of the cost of paid advertising.
Let’s revisit that statistic from the introduction to this book one last time – 84% hold word-of-mouth as the most trustworthy form of advertising. It is the most important form of marketing there is.
