Why Do Your Clients Leave? It’s not what you think

68% Perceived indifference (clients believe you don’t care about them)
14% Dissatisfied (with the product or service)
9% Price
5% Buy from a friend
3% Move
1% Die

As you can see from this Business Network International (BNI) statistic, 68% of clients leave us because they think we don’t care! To have success in business, we must start focusing more on relationships and providing a human connection so demonstrate that we really do genuinely care.

As the world goes more digital, the human connection has been lost. The social connection over the phone, a coffee with a colleague, are fewer in occurrence – we are always too busy. How many times do you say that you are just too busy. This could be contributing to slow (or non existent) growth in our business and we can no longer use this approach.

Business growth is aided by creating your personal brand and the human connection, which relates to the 80/20 rule:

• 80% of your communication should be based on friendship and celebration. Marketing messages should come second.
• 20% of your communications should involve asking for the referral, and other promotional messages.

You can use this system to build friendship (client/agent relationship through texts, calls, cards, and social media), celebrate (celebrate clients through pictures, gifts and the written word by creating these human connections) and of course, provide service (to provide top notch service and your clients/customers will refer you over and over again).

Let’s take this into a real life example. A quilter friend of mine buys her supplies at a small, local store, not because it’s cheaper, but because the store owner knows her by name and has built a relationship with her. The store in fact is more expensive than other suppliers, but the human connection is so powerful that both the client and the store owner have experienced increased business. Why? Because they genuinely care and show kindness on a regular basis.

We are now in an age where people are hungry to be listened too and are desiring a genuine relationship with the business owner. Appreciating your clients, customers, and friends is necessary to create a focus on the relationship in partnership with marketing.

Have you heard of Joe Girard? He is a car salesman who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for selling the most cars in a year – 1,475 cars, in the year 1973. How did he do this? Through his relationship marketing system by connecting with patrons in a heartfelt way. Celebrating birthdays, family accomplishments, and sending thank you cards several times throughout the year. In 15 years, he sold a record of 13,001 cars just by focusing on relationship marketing activities. He sent so many cards that he hired assistants to hand write the thank you cards just to keep up. People would come into the dealership to meet Joe because they desired to make a connection with him. He would thank each and every person that walked through the door. Now that is Relationship Marketing at it’s best.

How did you feel the last time someone took the time to send you a physical card? Sending a heartfelt card speaks volumes to your clients, 100% of the time being received with an open heart and smile. We need to care more. We need to give more. We need to listen more. I know first hand that implementing a daily habit of sharing and showing gratitude in a genuine fashion creates connection – a human connection that often results in more business. Moving away from “what can this person give me” to “what value can I give this person” becomes a much more successful approach in all areas of business.

We need more kindness in this world. How will you show kindness in your business today?

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