How To Dramatically Improve Your Attrition Rate

How is your company's attrition rate? You work your tail off to get a customer, then for no apparent reason, you lose that customer. I know, I know, it really sucks. Especially if you lose that cusotmer to your closest competitor.

In the insurance business, this is called your 'retention'. In other words, you write a policy for a fully qualified individual or company, and some time later they cancel or no longer pay the premiums. Every agents nightmare.

If you or your company has ever suffered from poor attrition (or retention) don't panic. This can be fixed rather simply. These 4 simple techniques will work wonders.

4 Techniques to Improve Your Attrition Rate

1. 3 Day Callback - Some experts say that the sale actually begins after the sale has occurred. Think about it for a moment. Have you ever made a purchase and after a few days of reflection you decided it wasn't right for you? Maybe it just didn't feel right. We all have. We even have these thoughts for no apparent reason. It has always been a good practice to touch base with your customer a few days after the sale. The 3 Day Callback is very important.

If your customer is having any second thoughts they will be revealed when you speak to them shortly after the sale. If they have any additional questions or concerns this is a perfect time to address those. You may even have to resell them. Usually, the customer just wants to know that you care. The 3 Day Callback shows them you do.

2. The Congratulatory Letter - Regardless of what business you are in, when that customer becomes 'fully qualified' and the deal is cemented, send them a congratulations letter. Why? Have you ever heard the 'ole saying that 'they will forget what you said, but never forget how you made them feel'? Sending a congratulations letter for their purchase makes them feel good. They feel good about you, they feel good about your product, they feel good about your company, and they feel good about their purchase. The 'FEEL GOODS' are an attrition antidote.

3. The Birthday Card - You must send out birthday cards, period. If you are not doing this currently, there are inexpensive software programs that will make this task painless. For example, when the customer's information is first loaded into the database, with the date of birth and email address, the email autoresponder will automatically submit a birthday email. The staff will then follow-up with an actual birthday card. The birthday notice is set one week in advance for actual snail mail.

Not only will your customer's appreciate you for this, you will also receive countless referrals from their friends and family.

4. The Annual Review Letter - Annual review letters make the customer feel important. After all, they are important. Without that customer, you wouldn't have a business. Once again, your marketing tools should be able to handle this task rather simply.

When you perform annual reviews not only will you further develop a stronger relationship with that customer, your referral business will substantially improve as well.

Make it a habit to perform 3 day callbacks, send out congratulatory letters, mail those birthday cards, and perform your annual reviews and your attrition rate (or retention) will skyrocket.