Quite an adventure, isn’t it, sailing through the pandemic storm, together? Each week brings a new requirement on how to combine emotion, engagement, courage, and critical thinking skills. So we get to where we need to go, together. One millimeter at a time.
Each week feels different, has its own theme, doesn’t it? As I coach clients and companies through being prepared for “what’s next?” they share how they have reached the “go / no-go” decision. Remain true to what was or pivot to what must be.
Are any of you experiencing the same client feedback, as you attempt to retain them? Or, are any of you asking yourselves the same questions? You are not alone. We are in this together.
That is why, moving forward, my advice is to create a flexible client retention strategy. For your own business and for the clients you serve.
For starters, acknowledge that clients are facing their need to pivot, and they are overwhelmed. Because they feel that they have failed employees and clients, even when they haven’t. Next, let clients understand you feel their sense of loss: including loss of employees due to furlough, churn or disease. Not only that, clients lose the very business models responsible for their past successes. Also, these clients will either concede, or continue to deny, that past business models are stretched beyond current technical, regulatory and workforce capacities. And, perhaps even, their own leadership capacity is tested.
Finally, you make the call. Do current clients have the mindset and succession plan allowing them to be open to continuous change? To get to where they need to go: today, tomorrow and moving forward.
These are the conversations which a flexible client retention strategy is based upon. Do you have the empathy, connection, business knowledge and options to be able to reach out to clients in this manner? Because in order to have the conversations with clients which matter the most, a flexible client retention strategy is based – first and foremost – on mutual trust.
Are you a trusted go-to resource for clients? Would you like to become one? Because “What’s Next?” is about being nimble and flexible, as well as proactive and anticipatory, amidst Continuous Change. Click on this link for a complimentary 15-minute conversation.
My One Millimeter Mindset™ virtual and in-person keynotes, workshops, coaching and mastermind programs translate across strategic communication and collaboration disconnects between people and professional disciplines. Build trust. Optimize strategic business and human capital value in your organizations. Get everyone to where they need to go. Together. One millimeter at a time. My playbook of communication tools and methods, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com.
Image source: iStock/Getty Image
Leave a Reply