What If Half Of Your Customers Leave: Retention Tips For Entrepreneurs

In my Forbes column on the hot job market, I wrote about retention strategies for employers to keep their best staff. This is not just a corporate issue. As business owners, we have staff, vendors, and partners, and we need to remember that when the market improves, they have options for where to work and who to partner with. As business owners, we also have clients to retain. Have you thought about what you would do if half of your customers decided to leave? Here are three retention strategies to ensure that you stay front of mind with current customers:

Check in on a regular basis

Customers will reach out to someone when they have a need, but to reach out to you specifically, they have to remember you. Do you have a system to regularly stay in touch with your customer base in-between orders or services? This could be done via newsletter or an automated email series. Depending on how high touch your offering is, this also might include phone calls or hard copy mail.

Make follow-up generous and non-committal

However you decide to keep in touch with your customers, make the follow up generous and non-committal: generous, meaning that the focus is on the other person and not pitching your stuff; and non-committal, meaning that you’re not actively soliciting a response. Generous follow-up includes an article of interest, a holiday greeting, an idea or recommendation (for something other than your offering). If you’re a personal trainer, this might be an article on health and wellness trends, a Happy New Year greeting with an inspirational quote, or a book recommendation on the latest fitness science.

Offer bonuses

If you’re speaking at an event and have comp passes, offer them to your customers. If you have excess capacity in your schedule, let your customers know you’re available and offer a last-minute special rate. From your entrepreneur network with complementary offerings, pick some referral partners and offer each other’s audiences special packages or extras. Give your customers extra items they are not expecting.

Be proactive in your customer retention strategies because the improving job market means an improving economy, which means you want to be front of mind with your customers if they’re in a buying mood. How will you stay in touch? Let me know your favorite retention strategies and any questions or issues you’d like to explore further!

 Caroline Ceniza-Levine is a career and business coach with SixFigureStart®. She has worked with executives from Amazon, American Express, Condé Nast, Gilt, Goldman Sachs, Google, McKinsey, and other leading firms. Follow Caroline’s weekly leadership column on Forbes and take advantage of SixFigureStart® free toolkits on Negotiation, Networking, and Personal Branding, including a free download for entrepreneurs.