Based on a recent collaborative study conducted by the US Chamber of Commerce and the US Small Business Administration, the cost of attaining new customers is five to seven times more than retaining the existing ones. Competition is stiffer for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs), and this is the reason why 38 percent of SMB marketers have vouched to focus on improving their customer retention rates this year, as revealed in a report by Teradata, a US-based marketing firm. Small businesses are growing more insistent to be at par with their larger competitors. They are even increasingly relying on reputed providers of managed services in order to get an expert edge in customer retention rates.
How MSPs can help your small business?
Small businesses already run on limited resources. As an addition, managing the customer retention rate increases the pressure on the existing workforce. This is where managed service providers (MSPs) come in handy. With years of experience under their belt, these firms become an external beam of support, taking full responsibility of maintaining and improving an SMB's rate of customer retention.
Here are three ways by which MSPs can take a proactive role in holding their existing clients back:
1) Setting the client expectations
According to a report by Client Heartbeat, an Australia-based software firm, 68 percent of customers end a relationship with a business because of the unsatisfactory service offered to them. Therefore, the first step of MSPs is to determine a standard that is a little less than what the business can actually offer. As a result, it becomes easier for the business to under-promise and over-deliver, thus keeping clients happy and satisfied every time.
2) Creating a communication plan
Customers love to stay with a business that has a strong strategy. Efficient MSPs arrange quarterly business review (QBR) meetings, helping a small business understand its success points and mistakes by looking back at information from the past quarter. With every issue and remedy laid out on the table, the business can communicate more freely with its customers, thus enhancing its stand as a trusted advisor.
3) Ensuring a great on-boarding process
MSPs essentially take your responsibility of coming up with business plans. These firms look after all three key areas of the on-boarding process – the assessment, performance analysis, and cutover and transition plan. They manage the operating models, technology infrastructure and application architecture in order to ensure an easy on-boarding process, and create a strategy that keeps customers engaged for a prolonged period.
Managed services do not come in a one-size-fits-all business model. Here, MSPs are considered as some of the best among the Southern States because they realize that every business is unique and therefore, they deliver custom-tailored solutions based on individual requirements. As a result, your small business can easily form a long-term bond with an MSP, and leverage the affordability and scalability it offers while strategizing the best ways to appease your existing customers.
Hand over a bit of your tasks to MSPs, as managed services can help you refine your customer retention rate. Help your business to quickly grow into a name to reckon with.
