Client Retention and Client Growth
08/03/2023
During a recent ASAC Shop Talk webinar hosted by Russell Morgan and presented by Bill Zweigbaum the topic covered some of the essential elements of Client Retention and Client Growth. It was a comprehensive discussion among the participants about many of the strategies, metrics and options that help agricultural consultants maximize their success.
Bill opened with a basic review of his background and experiences over many years of consultation with a wide variety of clients. He began with his insight that we need to understand that some clients will be one-timers, others will be quarterly, and others annually. There are also those who need a checkup every few years and call in when this review is needed. We need to recognize that there will be the on-off clients that we would like to have as regular clients, but for a variety of reasons they will only want one visit, or very few.
There was a discussion of different metrics that they use to track the performance of their business that included the turnover rate of clients in a year’s time, the percentage of clients retained annually, and the average lifetime value of each client.
Starting new clients can be expensive for some practices, so retaining clients provides a higher margin than having to start several new clients each year.
For gaining new clients, the participants offered a variety of strategies based on their type of consulting and personal experiences. All felt that making sure your name and brand get exposure to your target audience as well as your local audience was essential, even if most of your new clients come from referrals. Some preferred being listed in their target audience’s association directories, while others opted for getting key interviews with people in those associations. In this marketing environment, a social media and web presence is very important. There are not necessarily to get new clients, but to have another touch point for prospects and current clients to see what you have been up to, as well as access to your types of services.
The key is to know your client base, what it needs, where they look for advice, and building a solid relationship and reputation with them to ensure your retention rate is high and you have a steady stream of new clients coming in. Each consultant needs to measure these areas and make certain they are meeting these expectations.
For a link to the entire discussion: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/YQpcD3VigQ8yfBCFdZFY6Z?
Posted by:
Don Tyler
Tyler & Associates
ASAC Board Member
During a recent ASAC Shop Talk webinar hosted by Russell Morgan and presented by Bill Zweigbaum the topic covered some of the essential elements of Client Retention and Client Growth. It was a comprehensive discussion among the participants about many of the strategies, metrics and options that help agricultural consultants maximize their success.
Bill opened with a basic review of his background and experiences over many years of consultation with a wide variety of clients. He began with his insight that we need to understand that some clients will be one-timers, others will be quarterly, and others annually. There are also those who need a checkup every few years and call in when this review is needed. We need to recognize that there will be the on-off clients that we would like to have as regular clients, but for a variety of reasons they will only want one visit, or very few.
There was a discussion of different metrics that they use to track the performance of their business that included the turnover rate of clients in a year’s time, the percentage of clients retained annually, and the average lifetime value of each client.
Starting new clients can be expensive for some practices, so retaining clients provides a higher margin than having to start several new clients each year.
For gaining new clients, the participants offered a variety of strategies based on their type of consulting and personal experiences. All felt that making sure your name and brand get exposure to your target audience as well as your local audience was essential, even if most of your new clients come from referrals. Some preferred being listed in their target audience’s association directories, while others opted for getting key interviews with people in those associations. In this marketing environment, a social media and web presence is very important. There are not necessarily to get new clients, but to have another touch point for prospects and current clients to see what you have been up to, as well as access to your types of services.
The key is to know your client base, what it needs, where they look for advice, and building a solid relationship and reputation with them to ensure your retention rate is high and you have a steady stream of new clients coming in. Each consultant needs to measure these areas and make certain they are meeting these expectations.
For a link to the entire discussion: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/YQpcD3VigQ8yfBCFdZFY6Z?
Posted by:
Don Tyler
Tyler & Associates
ASAC Board Member
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