2010: The Year of Client Service Excellence

Let me start 2010 with a brief but important reminder. For many of you, today is your first day of the new year back in the office. What better time to commit to client service excellence and its critical role to growing your business.

Back in 2006, Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company reported:

• Over a 5 year period, businesses may lose as many as 1/2 of their customers.
• Acquiring a new customer can cost 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing customer.
• Businesses who boosted customer retention rates by as little as 5% saw increases in their profits ranging from 5% to a whopping 95%.

The math is fairly simple and the disruption of client churn is often much greater than just the hard costs incurred. In reviewing various sources, the cost of acquiring new clients ranges from 5 to 10 times more than keeping the ones you have. What's more, new clients want to work with agencies that will serve them better than their predecessors. Starting today, make client service excellence the centerpiece for your growth strategy. Make 2010 the year of client service excellence!