Longevity Versus Fast Turnover Of Clients

As a business owner, it's always a juggling act trying to service your current client base as well as setting time aside to secure new business, but challenging as it is, it's something that has to be done on a daily basis.

I was told, 14 years ago, when I set up JAM Marketing, that if you are standing still with clients or not moving forward, then in effect, you’re going backwards.

I have to be honest, I didn’t understand that at the time, I was too busy trying my best to service the clients that I had, without looking for new ones and it wasn’t until a customer, dizzy with the success of our marketing, having not done any in the past, decided to go to a national agency meaning I lost them to a competitor.

I am not going to tell you it didn’t hurt, and not just financially, but personally. I thought they were unhappy with what I had been doing, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. The fact that they sent me a huge bouquet of flowers and a thank you card confirmed that I shouldn’t take it personally. In fact, I had introduced them to marketing and as a result, they had grown their business and basically, outgrown me!

After I lost that client, I decided that I wouldn’t be so complacent in the future and set about a marketing strategy and growth plan for JAM. I wasn’t going to let the loss of one client deter me from making JAM a success, so I started attending more B2B meetings, getting myself out there, so to speak, and I realised something during this time; I was actually quite good at networking and was successful at bringing clients into JAM as a result of this.

On a monthly basis, I would set myself goals as to how many of these types of meetings I would go to, and come hell or high water, I would attend them, even though many of them were at 6.30am in the morning. I was there, albeit blurry eyed, but keen as mustard. At that time, I genuinely thought there was only one 6.30 in any one day! I soon learnt that it wasn’t the case!

Although that was one of very many lessons I have learnt over the years, I am still very much convinced that if you service your clients as you say you’re going to, be creative and generally do as much as you can to keep them happy, then you have a much better chance of keeping them as a customer, than if you don’t. That might seem like I am pointing out the obvious, however many service providers fall into the trap of becoming complacent with their clients and start to cut corners and basically not deliver on their promises.

Now over the years we’ve had many clients that have come to us for one-off campaigns, some have just done that one, some have dipped in and out and done several, but the customers that reap the best rewards are the ones that realise that a consistent approach to marketing is required and the on/off drives don’t always gain the best results.

So, going back to my question, as to whether it is better to have long-term clients or a high turnover is a matter for you as a business owner to answer? For me, it’s a combination of both, but if I am really honest, long-term clients, that you build a trusting relationship with, are by far more the most rewarding.

I can only speak for myself here, but many of my long-term clients have become life-long friends too and even if they have stopped using JAM’s services, the relationship has continued, so I suppose it’s very subjective!

One thing that I don’t question any more though, is that if you’re not growing your business or you’re standing still, then absolutely, you are going backwards, so if you don’t take anything else at all from this article, take this, and make it your mantra, as it is definitely, 100% true!