The real secret to client retention? Holding yourself to the highest standards

Photo by Anna Shvets
It’s easy for business experts to read almost too much into what works in business life, and how to get a leg above the competition. However, sometimes, a simple approach that works well and consistently over time can be better than a million schemes that promise efficiency and innovation.
Does that mean you can’t revolutionize, secure a new vision, or challenge the traditional methods of doing things? Of course, not, in fact all of those efforts lead to some of the best outcomes possible. That being said, it’s very important to be clear about what this approach means, and how it can benefit your brand.
In this post, we’ll discuss the real secret to client retention – holding yourself to the highest standards. Here’s what that means in practice:
Excelling in compliance
Being excellent in compliance isn’t just about following rules; it’s about building trust and being honest – this also means having specialists look at your audits, such as through contract compliance, to make certain you’re approaching this from the right direction. Sure, adherence to legal parameters is hardly the most romantic means of curating clients, but they can help with consistency and also help you understand which implements to excel in. A restaurant that routinely scores perfect grades in its hygiene scores will almost always be trusted more than any with suggestions for improvement, and when you extrapolate that, we see change. You need only look to Boeing’s recent scandals to see how much customer trust can affect a business, thanks to a lack of appropriate compliance.
Cultivating & learning from clients
Remember that clients aren’t just a means of revenue, they’re a relationship to be built or to maintain. Cultivating clients means keeping them happy and sticking with them for the long term. We do this by listening to them, asking for their thoughts, and making changes based on what they tell us.
Learning from our clients helps us make our products and services more suitable for them, and curating our vision to appease, impress and nurture them, while also expanding our base in tow. It’s not just about getting new customers; it’s about building relationships that last. Clients that feel listened to are also so much more likely to stick with your company, all for the better.
A culture of accountability
There’s almost nothing better for client trust than a self-regulating business that knows how and where to implement accountability for the better. When we hold ourselves accountable, it means we own up to our mistakes and try to fix them. Sometimes, even being public about that can prevent a scandal or the damage that comes from mistruth or sweeping issues under the carpet.
This makes our team stronger and more reliable. Think about it – if a company apologized to you and outlined the issues they faced and how they would fix it, would you respect them slightly more than if the issue had never happened at all? We’re willing to bet there’s a small part of you that would.
With this advice, you’ll be certain to see and implement the real and best secret to client retention over time.