Thank you!

How much does it cost to acquire a new customer? How much does it cost to retain an existing customer? We ran the numbers and Holy *%$#, new customers are expensive!

From a marketing perspective, in our case, the cost to acquire a new customer was ten times that of retaining an existing customer.

Marketing costs only tell part of the story. New customers are labor intensive. They require more utilities from the sales, operations and administrative departments. And, more often than not, new customers are won over by price. Yikes! Add it all up and you are probably not making much margin from your new customers

But you can’t have repeat clients without new. So you do what it takes.

Knowing the numbers is helpful because it crystallizes the value of repeat clients. Nothing is more important in your business than customer retention and nothing is more costly than loosing a previous customer.

Maximum efforts must be taken to keep your existing clients happy and feeling great about the services your offer. This means specific marketing campaigns, special events, extra patience and extra care.

Most of all it means saying thank you. To all our customers, thank you very much for your business. We greatly appreciate you, we value you and we look forward to serving you in the future.

Beware the Slippery Slope

Your competitor has talent on his roster. Talent, which you think would look good on your side. So, you decide to make a pitch. You invite the coveted “talent” for coffee and suggest that the grass is greener.

Surprise, the “talent” says he is very satisfied with his current position and that he has no intention of leaving.

Now what?

Guaranteed that the “talent “ is going to report the recruitment and any proprietary information that you divulged back to his Boss. By attempting to lure the “talent” you are suggesting to the market that you current roster needs improvements (not good for staff morale) Moreover, the door is now wide open for the competitor to come after your staff.

Whoops, you’ve just clamored up a very slippery slope!

If you are thinking about stealing “talent” you had better be sure your target is unhappy with his current lot. Underestimating your competitors corporate culture and staff loyalty, can lead to trouble.

If “talent” approaches you by all means recruit and improve your team. Attracting talent is paramount for any entrepreneurs’ success. But don’t get obsessed with the players on the other team. In the end you are probably best served to support and nurture you own talent and avoid the slippery slope.