Pillar 7: Client Retention

This concludes our 8-part series on Bryan Pope’s The 7 Pillars of Successful Marketing. Visit Bryan’s blog and web site to learn more and order your own copy of An Introduction to the 7 Pillars of Successful Marketing.

All 7 pillars culminate in sales. However, you must conclude with the 7th pillar: Client Retention. As Bryan will tell you—in his own word taken from An Introduction to the 7 Pillars of Successful Marketing—it is less expensive to retain a client than to create one.

Create client allegiance & predictable repeat revenue patterns

“Isn’t it a good feeling to know you have an ongoing income stream you can depend
on from loyal clients who are pleased with the products or services with which you are
providing them? If you’re already there, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re not,
I want to help you get there as quickly as possible. In either case, you have the
opportunity to create a pool of fiercely loyal clients who wouldn’t dream of living
without the products or services you are providing to them.

To make this happen, you need a couple of essential tools.

1. You need a data capturing mechanism in your business.
• If you are a business-to-business product or service provider, chances are good you already capture most or all of the data you need in the process of making transactions with your clients.
• If you are a business-to-consumer product or service provider, this may or may not be the case. For instance, a service provider making house calls (like a plumber or carpet cleaner) will likely gather the needed information naturally, while a retail store or restaurant will not.
• Think about it, when was the last time you gave your contact information to a retailer or restaurant operator? It’s a savvy few who consistently collect and use such information.
2. In order to actively nurture a client and help him or her become a loyal advocate of
   your company, you have to able to consistently communicate with the client.
• Therefore, you need the person’s name, company name (if you’re a B2B company), phone number, address, email address, and any other contact information you feel will be helpful in staying in front of the client.
3. Once you have this information, helping a client remain active is much like acquiring
   the client in the first place.
• You need to conduct ongoing market research with your
  clients to make sure you’re continuing to meet their needs.
• You may adjust your message to existing clients from the one you use to attract people who have never heard of your company before.
4. You must devise client retention strategies.
• You’ll mount client loyalty campaigns. You’ll still use the same methods we discussed earlier—promotion, publicity/PR, and advertising—to help retain your clients, although the vehicles you use to deliver your messages may differ from your prospecting activities.
• You’ll still need sales strategies and systems tailored to retaining your clients and keeping them actively purchasing from you, preferably in greater amounts and with more
  frequency.”

Questions to Ask Yourself to Retain Clients

• Do we have a suitable client data acquisition system in place
  to capture all the data we need to stay in front of our clients
  with our message?
• If “Yes,” what is it?
• If “No,” what can we put into place immediately?
• Do we have a data management system in place to manage
  the data we capture in a serviceable way so we can conveniently
  and consistently stay in front of our clients with our messages?
• If “Yes,” what are we using?
• If “No,” what can we begin using immediately?
• Remember to go back to the beginning of The 7 Pillars and use them in creating your
  client retention program for your company.

In Conclusion

“There you have it, the most powerful marketing system in the world. It works for any
business—regardless of size or type—in any industry. Do you feel more powerful—more
in control—just having read this short summary? You should! This is the real deal. If you
will apply just what you’ve read in this brief document, you’ll see differences in the
financial outcomes of your marketing efforts almost immediately.”

I enjoyed sharing what I consider to be one of the best marketing programs around. I hope you appreciated Bryan’s sound and simple approach to million dollar marketing on a shoestring. One last time, I encourage you to buy the download and accompanying PDF and to read Bryan’s blog.

Join me Monday when we begin a series on year-end activities to improve next year’s business