How Long Should You Keep in Touch with a Former Client?

Every con­trac­tor knows what it is like to lose a cus­tomer. It’s like a romance gone bad: ​“Look, I like you and every­thing, but I just don’t see you as my paint­ing com­pa­ny any­more. I think you and I are going dif­fer­ent direc­tions… but we can still be friends, right?” And then you see your com­peti­tor’s van in their dri­ve­way. When I worked full-time in cus­tomer ser­vice and sales, it dev­as­tat­ed me every time a cus­tomer decid­ed not to use my paint com­pa­ny. I took it hard when I lost a cus­tomer, because I worked to build a long-term rela­tion­ship with each and every one. Is that you too? Some­times clients change con­trac­tors based on price alone, but I think the num­ber one rea­son why most cus­tomers would ever con­sid­er using anoth­er con­trac­tor is because they don’t have a strong rela­tion­ship with you or your com­pa­ny. (I’ve been guilty of this too! but read on) So how do you move for­ward with lost cus­tomers? Can you regain them? Should you cut them from your data­base and say, ​“Ah, they don’t know what they’re miss­ing. They’ll come crawl­ing back when they have a lousy expe­ri­ence with that oth­er guy!” Or should you stay in touch? Easy answer! Stay in touch with a for­mer client unless he or she asks you not to. As long as your greet­ings and inquiries are gen­uine, the chances are they will appre­ci­ate you rather than be annoyed. Instead of get­ting frus­trat­ed, cre­ate a fol­low-up plan. Drop a note in the mail now and then just to say hi and see how things are going. See if you can regain what you lost. You might be sur­prised at how many come back to you the next time their home needs fix­ing or fresh­en­ing up. Final­ly, to help keep a cus­tomer from leav­ing in the first place, do the same thing: have a good and con­sis­tent fol­low-up plan. Your cus­tomers are the life-blood of your orga­ni­za­tion. Think of your paint­ing or con­struc­tion busi­ness more of like an account­ing, a real­tor or a finan­cial firm. Those indus­tries know their cus­tomers well. Always keep a good pulse on how your cus­tomers view your orga­ni­za­tion. If you build a real rela­tion­ship with them, they will be the ones feel­ing guilty if they leave you because your price. Tell me, how you keep in touch with your cus­tomers now? What does your fol­low-up plan look like? I’d love to read some of your unique ways to stay in touch and keep a cus­tomer for life.