TRENDS IN DRUG USE BY NINA FRENCH, CURRENT CONSULTING GROUP
Using Emerging Trends for Customer Retention = Big Opportunity
C
ompanies spend millions atracting new customers but, in comparison, invest far less on a strategy for
maintaining clients. Te impact of losing clients is dangerously high—it not only means lost sales and revenue, it is a distraction from other important issues, it opens the door for your competitors, and although 95 percent of customers who have a bad experience do not complain to you, 13 percent tell up to 20 other people. Couple this with the fact that it costs five times more to “buy” new customers than to retain existing ones, and it is hard to see how critical a customer retention plan is for any company. Customer retention strategies vary
widely and require different approaches at different levels of the organization. Management, client service, operations, product, and sales all play important roles in a company’s client retention strategy. In fact, there is not a single position or department that does not shoulder some responsibility for customer retention. Tat said, the “front line” of customer retention is oſten the account management and product management teams. One way to increase client engagement and increase client retention is to keep abreast of emerging trends and use those trends as a cornerstone of your client engagement and retention programs. Easily said, but how easily can it be done? It isn’t as difficult as you might think.
Keep on top of the regulatory and legal trends. Medical marijuana, electronic chain of custody (eCCF), oral fluids drug testing; each creates an opportunity for designing a product and engaging your existing clients. At first notice of a new rule or proposed law, work with your client facing team on communication to your client base. You don’t want to just reiterate
30 datia focus
regulated program using oral fluids. It can be a great solution for clients who struggle with a full urine program.
the language in the notice but to work with your subject mater experts and create a meaningful communication including expected impact, pros and cons, and probably timelines. At an early stage it is not only ok but recommended that you evaluate the impact and probability from different angles providing your clients with many of the “what ifs” they need to be considering. As the changes come closer to becoming final, work with your operations team and look at the probable impact to your operations and your clients’ drug and alcohol testing programs. • Arm your account managers and sales team with white papers and compliance slicks that address the issues of legalized marijuana, the impact on their policy and the best practice recommendations from your team of experts.
• Can you create a white paper, a webinar, and an eCCF implementation training program to take to your clients? If so, is this something you can charge for or are the indirect benefits to your operations and costs so great that the offering should be free to existing clients?
• Work with your suppliers and buy oral fluid collector samples and create a demonstration video for your clients highlighting the pros and cons of a
Consultative Partner. It is hard to imagine any word more overused and under- delivered than a vendor “partner.” It is also difficult to find another asset that is more challenging to value. A true consultative business partner is critical to a successful drug and alcohol testing program. A true partner brings in outside opportunities, educates their clients on trends from the industry at large, and uses them to evaluate and improve a client’s drug and alcohol testing program. Too oſten, a hard won and costly onsite meeting with a client is squandered fumbling through slide decks jammed full of statistical data that leaves a client bored and uninspired or, worse yet, focused on the minutia of every error or delay over the previous year. Preparing an effective periodic business
review requires that you have actual client performance data, you’ve tied in new and upcoming industry changes, and effectively predicted how new products or services could be of value to your client. Stats and slides can be leſt behind for a deeper review. Use your face-to-face time with clients to highlight those areas of focus where you can add value through improvement, alert the client to changes that will impact them, or demonstrate a new product or technology that was not available to them when they became a client. Tis approach increases their trust in your partnership and prevents a competitor from being the first to introduce a new service to your client before you do.
Keep Your Ear to the Ground. Native Americans used this technique to hear the vibration of the hooves of the horses when their enemies approached so they
Winter 2016
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