Just a few thoughts on what Client Retention really means and what should be the focus areas so that clients do not defect to the competitors.

1. SS
Ten Slides in Ten Minutes:
Thinking about Client Retention
[Capturing the Hearts and Minds of Prospects & Clients]
Presented by:
Bill Graham CP.APMP
June, 2014
bill.graham@sales-synthesis.co.za
Customers
Clients

2. Success is a Balanced Lifestyle
2
What is Client Retention?
All activities in an organisation that ensure clients do not defect to a competitor
• Exceeding clients’ expectations
• Growing the partnership
• Relevant emerging solutions
• Alignment to clients’ strategies
• Building loyal advocates
How Mature is
your Account
Management?
Increasing the
'Loss Rate'
Creating a climate
for success
Client Retention begins at contract signature
• Complacency
• Marketplace irrelevancy
• Commodity selling
• Commission-driven sales
• Perception of poor service culture

3. Dominant ExclusiveEmerging PervasiveAbsent
Symbiotic
relationship
with clients
Making the competitors irrelevant
Building mutually beneficial and sustainable long-term client relationships by
crafting solutions that support a clients’ Business Imperatives
Source: Sales Synthesis
Know where you are going
Focus on Client’s
Business Imperatives
a). Let’s Look at How the Solution was Sold
Prospects want Solutions that Support their Business Needs:
3

4. • They repeatedly strive to please their clients
• They design the correct offerings for the correct clients
• They build their organisations around cross-functional teams
• They make decisions that resonate with clients
• They seek to create positive, memorable experiences for their clients.
Source: FiServ
‘Many companies have the client focus of a vulture - they pay close attention to what the
clients are up to, but only in order to figure out the right time to pounce and tear at
their flesh!’
- Charles Green
b). Let’s Perceive what the Client Saw in your Organisation
Prospects want Solutions that Resonate with Them:
4

5. Dominant ExclusiveEmerging PervasiveAbsent
Symbiotic
relationship
with clients
Sustainability
Making the competitors irrelevant
Projects ParticularPerforming PertinentPeople Places
Building mutually beneficial and sustainable long-term client relationships by
crafting solutions that support the clients’ Business Imperatives
Source: Sales Synthesis
Know where you are going
Focus on Client’s
Business Imperatives
c). Sustainability Depends on the Service Being Delivered
Clients want Solutions that Fully Deliver on Expectations:
5

6. Source: Sales Synthesis
A Common Strategic
Vision with Clients
Basic Products
Basic Solutions
Value-Added Services
Integrated Solutions
Moment of
Truth
PartnershipDrop and Run
An evolving
relationship
6
d). Service Providers must Support their Client’s Vision
Clients want to be part of a Journey with their Service Provider/s:
SolutionCommodity

7. Results in Clients
that are Loyal
Advocates
Success is a Balanced Lifestyle
7
a) Let’s Look at How the Solution was Sold
b) Let’s Perceive what the Client Saw in your Organisation
c) Sustainability Depends on the Service Being Delivered
d) Service Providers must Support their Client’s Vision
Referring to the Previous Four Slides…
Be Truthful when
‘Self-Assessing’ these
Moment of Truth

8. a) When developing strategies, analysis of the organisation and its environment - as it is at
the moment and how it may develop in the future - is an imperative
b) The analysis has to be executed at an internal level as well as an external level, to
identify all possible opportunities and threats posed by the strategy.
There are several factors to assess in the external situation analysis:
• Industries & Trends
• Markets (customers) & their business imperatives
• Competition & their value chain
• Technologies & their pedigree
• Solutions portfolio
• Supplier markets
• Labour markets
• The economy
• The regulatory environment.
Store the munitions for your
journey and craft the plan [Who,
When, Where & How etc.]
Symbiotic
relationship
with clients
8
Continually Treat your Clients as if they were still Prospects
Your ‘Winning Ways’ are a critical component of the Retention Strategy
‘Court your Client as a Prospect – else the Honeymoon will soon be over’

9. Success is a Balanced Lifestyle
9
For Successful Organisations, Knowledge Infusion is an Imperative
Each organisation will have their own
workstreams for successful sale and
support of their offerings.
a) Sales
b) Business Development
c) Account Management
d) Program Management
e) Service Management
f) Etc.
Information
Capture
Plan
Repository
Information is only of value to an
organisation when it is used in the correct
context and by the correct personnel
Assumption
that the
Information is
relevant and of
the correct type
and detail
Moment of TruthPackaged & disseminated
across the organisation
Do not allow information collection to become an administrative burden

10. Success is a Balanced Lifestyle
10
Points to Ponder
Irrespective of whether robust Information reflects a valid reason for clients
to be retained, the reality is that the client’s own individual perceptions
[sometimes kept to themselves] will rule the decision.
and…
“Your Organisation”Client
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are,” Anais Nin
How well do
you know the
client/account?
Positive discontent
creates the
environment for
positive change
Any change needs
to be identified,
analysed and
acted upon