The Art of Business: Winning Back Lost Clients

Eric J. Adams

If success in the design world can be boiled down to one simple equation, it might be this: Business prosperity is directly related to customer loyalty. The statistics bear out this truth:

• Companies on average lose 50 percent of their customers every five years (Harvard Business Review).
• 66 percent of clients defect due to poor client care (Yankee Group).
• It is five to ten times more costly to acquire a new client than retain a current one (PricewaterhouseCoopers).
• A five percent increase in client retention can increase profits by nearly 100 percent (Harvard Business Review).
• Cutting defections in half will more than double a company’s growth rate (Harvard Business Review).

If these findings resonate with you, then it follows that you should spend a good deal of your time doing two things: cultivating customer loyalty among current clients; and refocusing your business development efforts on reengaging past clients rather than seeking out new ones.
Winning Attitudes
Many designers, however, operate under the notion that a lost client is lost forever. Not so, according to Jill Griffin, author of “Customer Winback: How to Recapture Lost Customers — And Keep Them Loyal” (Jossey-Bass, Inc., 2001). “Winning customers back is among the most productive steps a designer can take,” she said.
“It starts with the acknowledgement that a lost customer is not necessarily a lost cause. Designers often think that they must have done something wrong if a client doesn’t call back. Often the only thing they’ve done wrong is stopped the dialogue. Many lost clients are blown away when a company takes the initiative to re-contact them, acknowledges past patronage, and invites them to return,” said Griffin.
Here are Griffin’s suggestions for winning back the most lucrative clients you may have lost:
Step 1: Grade and segment lost clients. Uncover the reasons behind the client’s defection. Doing so will help you decide if you actually want a customer back, and if so, the best way to get him back. Lost clients usually fall into one of five categories:

• Clients who are intentionally pushed away. This includes clients you’ve stopped serving because they’ve proved too hard to please or are too much of a credit risk. Obviously, this type of customer isn’t one you want to win back.
• Clients who are unintentionally pushed away. You’ve offended or angered a customer by failing to deliver goods or services as promised.
• Clients who are pulled away. A competitor has offered a better value, such as friendlier service or a higher-quality product.
• Clients who are bought away. A client was lured by a competitor who offered lower prices on the same or similar services.
• Clients who moved away. The customer either physically relocated or outgrew a need for your products or services.

“Generally speaking, unintentionally pushed-away customers and pulled-away customers make the best win-back candidates,” said Griffin.
Step 2: Research the lost client’s present needs. Once you have completed Step 1, research the present needs of your best win-back candidates. Use the normal methods you might with a new client: research online; study their Web site; call around to people in the know, even people within the company, to gather information. Anticipate their needs.
If there’s been a major problem in the past, you run the risk of getting the door slammed in your face. “But if you do nothing more than neutralize the situation, you’ve taken the first step toward earning the business back,” said Griffin.
Step 3: Create a communication plan that reinstates confidence. You’re going back in, and your pitch better be right on. Think “relevancy.” It’s extremely important to know as much as possible about your lapsed customers and why they stopped buying.
“These lost clients need to feel like your communication is tailored specifically to their particular circumstances, history, and current needs,” said Griffin.
Timing also plays a major role in a win back campaign. Wait too long and you’re a forgotten entity. Try too soon and the wound may be too fresh.
Step 4: Measure, understand, evaluate, and refine.When designing a win-back program, use this rule of thumb: Think big, but start small. Start with a smaller client and, as you get better at understanding the dynamics of reengaging clients, move to bigger more important clients. All along the way, measure the outcomes and carefully assess ways to improve.
Step 5: Be honest, sincere, and accountable. Sometimes winning back clients involves little more than a sincere mea culpa and an honest conversation. You screwed up. Everyone does. A good dose of honesty and self-reflection goes a long way.
“My philosophy on business is that we are people working with people. It’s not a perfect world, but we’re at least trying to get it right,” said Griffin. “Apologies go a long way.”
Step 6: Don’t let it get that far. Nurturing your current clients is the best way to keep them from becoming former clients. And if you think everything is hunky dory with your current clients think again, says Griffin.
“Designers run the risk of deceiving themselves into thinking their clients are happy because of a close day-to-day working relationship. My experience with design firms is that it’s a very creative process and sometimes clients can be a little shy about something that is bugging them. For every client that is actively complaining, there are several that are silently complaining,” said Griffin.
Griffin suggests a heartfelt face-to-face meeting at least twice a year centered on this question: What can I do to make the relationship better?
So the next time you’re ready to embark on a campaign to solicit new business, think about starting with the folks you know all too well. They represent your best chance of creating new business.