These are huge profit improvements and demonstrate why retention is the new marketing of our decade.

Here are some things you can do to develop your own retention strategy:

• Clearly focus your marketing efforts on existing clients. This is where your time, energy and financial resources will be best spent since it takes less time, money & energy to retain a client than to acquire a new client.
• Stay in touch with your clients in a consistent and professional manner.
• Do what you say you will do. This will earn their loyalty and trust.
• Know your customer finding out more about them helps you to mould a service proposition for them .
• Commit to being a life-long learner. As you focus on gaining new knowledge, new skills, and new experiences, you will have more to offer your clients. The more you have to offer, the more they will benefit. And the more they benefit, the higher your value to them.
• Seek feedback and suggestions from your clients. By asking what they think, you are demonstrating that you value their opinions and ideas.
• Be a resource for your clients. Share ideas, resources and contacts that will provide value to your clients.
• Have a loyalty scheme for clients; this can be a real opportunity to be creative without spending a large amount of money.
• Keep looking for ways in which to surprise and delight your clients.  People pay for what they value and remain in a relationship when they receive this. Identify what your client’s value and you won’t go far wrong.

Becoming a client farmer takes time and it’s only natural to worry about cash flow that can be eased with immediate client acquisition.

However, I’d like to leave you with a quote from Henry Ford, which I would urge you to remember if you are ever taken off course from your own client retention strategy: “A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits, they will be embarrassingly large”.

John Joe McGinley is the founder of Glassagh Consulting