What do your customer retention stories sound like? Can you rely on the same stories you told to acquire new customers, to also retain them?
As the saying goes, what got you to where you are today may not get you to where you need to go, tomorrow.
Do you know the story of what happens to clients, after that new contract lands in-house, for post-sale execution? If you plan to renew that contract at a later date, perhaps it makes sense to become invested in that post-sale story. Regardless of your job title, pay scale, level of education and generation.
Customer retention stories involve more than just how your products, features and services play out, over time.
The majority of pre-sale storytelling focuses on telling use- or business-cases to justify initial client purchase of what you sell. However, successful sellers pack into their pre-sale conversations far more than use- or business- cases. Especially in industries with longer purchase cycles, involving larger, more complex and longer-term investments. Like the capital equipment and software found within Internet of Things environments.
Throughout my career, as a consultant, speaker and seller, I rely on my own stories, to complement the continuum of conversations I have with clients. Why?
Because potential, and possibly even current, clients may not trust the often pre-packaged stories you tell to acquire new business. Consider that pre-sale storytelling may represent either drama, where your products and services and technicians become the heroes saving the day. Or, that your organization’s pre-sale stories end up sounding too perfect to be realistic.
The stories I tell in my keynotes and workshops, and the stories I help my clients co-create, are a little bit messy. Since, on a day-to-day basis we, as human beings, are just a tad bit messier and incompatible than the software interfaces and synced equipment we work with.
As a result, customer retention stories set the stage, and client expectations, of the reality of post-sale life, together with you. And, these stories create trust, the greatest customer experience, of all.
Isn’t it time for you and your organization or association to discover the power of co-created customer retention stories? Then, take action here.
Babette Ten Haken’s One Millimeter Mindset® Storytelling for STEM Professionals and Left Brain Thinkers speaking programs leverage purpose-driven value differentiation through storytelling, to create and retain successful employees and clients. Combine courage, curiosity and critical thinking skills to co-create stories which inspire trust in one another.
Find out more about Babette’s professional story here. Babette is a member of SME, ASQ, SHRM and the National Speakers Association. Her playbook of communication hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Babette’s speaker profile is on the espeakers platform. Contact Babette here.
Image source: Adobe Stock
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