But how true is this? And how do you go about making this a reality?
The simple way is to aim to attract new clients all the time. When looking at marketing, how do you attract new customers? There are many ways this can be achieved:
o Buy leads
o Recommendations from satisfied customers
o Advertising direct to the public or via targeted affiliates
o Creating introducer relationships with accountants, solicitors etc
o Walk ins if you have a shop unit
All of these are important and help to keep the flow of new clients. However, when you to get to talk to a new client do you ask them how they were looked after previously? Did they have a broker or did they go direct to a lender? If you take on a client who was previously using another broker, try to understand why they are not using them now. There will be a large number of orphan clients whose broker has left the market, but not all.
More important than attracting new clients is ensuring you look after you existing client bank. Learning the lessons of why a new client is using you can help. If it was service etc. then making sure you do not make the same mistakes is important. Not just to the new client, but also your existing clients.
What is your contact strategy post sale? How often do you talk to them and what about? There are a number of reasons to contact a client but what is important is that not all of them need to be about an immediate new sale.
– Monthly market update email or newsletter
– Case studies about all parts of your business
– Birthday, Christmas cards etc which can be sent by email and pre-programmed
Targeted campaigns can also help. My belief is that if your cross-sell penetration rates are below 50% then there are still many opportunities to be talking to your clients. It may take time to set up a structured programme of contact material to your existing clients but monthly maintenance thereafter reduces. You may be surprised that it does not always cost as much as attracting new clients.
Working with clients, keeping them informed will make it harder for them to complain about the service they receive and look elsewhere. It costs money and time to acquire a new client making sure they stay a client is just as important.
Martin Reynolds is chief executive of SimplyBiz
