Question

Topic: Customer Behavior

What Win Back Strategy For It Customers?

Posted by Anonymous on 7/9/2010 at 4:52 AM ET 250 Points
Our company has gone threw a massive transition phase and we are now focusing on a 'customer win back' strategy as we lost a lot of customers before and some during the transition phase. We are an ICT supplier to mainly deal with mid market companies (75-400 staff). The customer churn was mainly due to a poor quality service we offered at the time and staff leaving setting up their own business, offering far more competitive pricing. We now have invested seriously in systems, processes and people to go back out to the market. How can we regain their trust??? Interested in any views that will add value.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 7/9/2010 at 12:28 PM Accepted
    You're probably going to have to do this one customer at a time, with personal sales calls and a hard-and-fast satisfaction guarantee.

    Don't even think of trying to do it with any kind of mass communication or lame premium offer, or even with a price-oriented promotion. Those will probably backfire.

    Develop a compelling presentation that outlines what you've done/changed and how seriously committed you are to total customer satisfaction. Then share it with your salesforce and get their buy-in. Then turn them loose, perhaps with a short-term incentive plan.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 7/9/2010 at 1:42 PM Accepted
    Trust is broken overnight and it built up slowly. If you recently had a problem, you need to prove its fully behind you.

    Think like one of your competitors - lean and mean. What can you uniquely offer that no one else can? Can you prove it? How can you provide top-notch service that'll get you noticed for changing your stripes? A series of webinars/videos/seminars on best-practices for IT? How confident are you of your new-and-improved status? Can you offer a satisfaction guarantee that no one can touch (for example, double your money back if unsatisfied)?
  • Posted by telemoxie on 7/9/2010 at 3:08 PM Accepted
    excellent advice above.

    If this were my project, I would begin by segmenting these lost sales into three groups: A, B, and C. Prospects.

    I would then select one of the B. prospects who was nearby, and I would approach them with the following: I understand that you were previously a customer, and are now no longer a customer. I am not trying to win you back, and we respect your decision, what we are trying to understand what went wrong so that we will never again make these mistakes in the future.

    I would use information gathered from this initial interview to plan my approach to your A. prospects.

    In addition and in parallel, I would also put a substantial amount of effort into identifying and selling new customers.

    Good luck to you.
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