Customer Retention Techniques That Work

Jitender Lakhani (JL)
September 29, 2021
Category: Customer Retention

Customer retention is a critical factor in determining the total value of a company. It’s simple and clear: the less consumers you lose, the faster you’ll grow.

But what about customer retention techniques for B2B companies?

Because the relationship is rather complicated when it comes to prospects and sales executives, this can be a little more challenging. There are more people involved, switching costs are often higher, and the chance of making a mistake is plausible.

Let’s go through how to spot a B2B customer that is about to defect 3-6 months ahead of time!

Step 1: Net Promoter Score survey.

NPS allows businesses to ask themselves the big question – how likely is a customer to suggest your business to a friend or colleague on a scale of 0 to 10?

The data collecting process must be done on a regular basis: At the very least, three times a month to capture changes in customer impressions and provide you the time you need to recover the citation.

If you just survey once a year, you will almost certainly be too late to intervene before the consumer has taken the necessary steps to quit.

An NPS management system that is automated and integrated is the safest approach.

Step 2: In high-value accounts, keep an eye out for declining scores.

Step 2 is to keep tabs on your personal and account-level scores on a monthly basis. Wherever you notice scores falling, you can be certain that the chance of losing someone as a customer is rising, and you must act.

To assist you in order to prioritize taking action, connect your NPS data with account revenue or profitability statistics for increased efficacy. This method of triaging allows you to concentrate on the most important clients.

Step 3: 3-6 months prior to contract renewal, heavily intervene.

It’s pointless to wait until the contract’s last week. If you want to save a B2B customer, you must move quickly. In a B2B setting, decision-making is often more extensive, and implementing change takes longer than in a B2C setting. It’s not like switching energy providers or food retailers.

If clients are preparing to leave, they will have made their decision well in advance of the renewal date, giving them enough time to find a replacement supplier before notifying you of the cancellation.

The good news is that dropping scores can provide you with a 3-6 month warning of probable customer loss, but you must move fast to capitalize on that warning.

The intervention will vary depending on your business, but it will most likely contain the following:

Re-engaging your account management and senior executives with your customer’s team to figure out what’s causing the drop in satisfaction and begin making plans to fix it.
Using the customer feedback data you gathered during the review process to show you’re paying attention and changing.
Creating action plans to address problems.