{"id":2900,"date":"2015-05-05T16:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T16:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/?p=2900"},"modified":"2015-12-09T14:00:10","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T14:00:10","slug":"lost-customers-profit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/lost-customers-profit\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Move Lost Customers into Profit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone says the customer is important, but only a few savvy companies invest the time, effort and financial resources to do what needs to be done to build a more loyal customer base.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Don'tExecuting a loyalty strategy takes a true understanding of what it takes to create the kinds of experiences the customer will come back for, and tell their friends about.<\/p>\n

Companies usually lose from 15% to 20% of their customers annually<\/strong><\/p>\n

Customers\u00a0leave for many reasons. Some move, some die, some go out of business and some are seduced by the competition.<\/p>\n

The majority of customers leave because they simply feel you don\u2019t care about them or their business. Sounds immature and childish but it\u2019s true. You may care, but if they perceive you don\u2019t then in their minds\u2014you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Lost customers \u2013 an ignored opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most companies today don\u2019t know how many customers they’ve lost, much less attempt to bring them back. According to Frederick Reichheld, former director of Bain & Company\u2019s customer retention program:<\/p>\n

“It is common for a business to lose 15 to 20 percent of its customers each year. When defections are cut in half, the average growth rate more than doubles. A five percent change in rate of retention swings profit increases from 25 percent all the way to 100 percent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No one wants to hear they screwed up<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most companies won\u2019t try to win back former customers simply because there may be some pain involved in the process. The process of winning back customers begins with finding out why they left in the first place. Research has shown that customer relationships break up for the same reasons personal ones do\u2014lack of communication.<\/p>\n

Set up a defection management program \u2013 create swat teams<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my book, “Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service”, I highly recommend creating an action group of your most proficient employees (Swat Team). Their job is to contact defecting customers and to persuade them to give the company another chance. The plan for countering high defections should include a review of the problem:<\/p>\n