Too Much Excellence?

It’s no secret that client retention is important. Consulting company Bain & Company reports that just a five percent increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75 percent. But did you know that your excellent work may cause clients to drop your agency? Dave Mosby and Michael Weissman deem this idea the “Paradox of Excellence.” According to Mosby and Weissman, when companies quietly provide efficient service, clients may begin to forget why they need such services in the first place.

In their recently published article, Sales Engineering Group principals Don Gray and Todd Hendries discuss the Paradox of Excellence and what companies can do to prevent client loss They list three steps that may prevent value from being forgotten:

• Know what clients value and expect—Never assume that you already know that they need.

• Keep track of feedback and gauge your agency’s performance against clients’ expectations.

• Address any unrealistic client expectations and work with the client to create more viable ones.

Gray and Hendries expand on these steps, and offer further client-retention tips, in their article “The Paradox of Excellence: Don’t Let Great Service Kill Your Business.”