Why client retention is critical for a successful practice

It’s a universal truth that client retention is cheaper than acquisition and that loyal clients will be your most profitable – they tend to spend more, more frequently as their relationship with you increases. Although losing a percentage of you clients is an unavoidable side effect of doing business, I’m always surprised how few clinics really know what their retention rate is and what the lifetime value of a client (vs. cost of acquiring that client) is.

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Sometimes clients will leave because they move, because they no longer have treatments or because they’d passed away (!?). However, let’s face it, most clients will ditch you because they just don’t like you anymore. They are unhappy with your clinic, they are unhappy with your staff or their treatments. Despite the love of complaining online and the proliferation of online reviews, the majority of mildly unhappy customers will just leave you (without giving you chance to put it right) and find another practitioner and clinic – they aren’t quite unhappy enough to leave a scathing Google review but too unhappy to return to you.

Who are the clients who leave you and who should you focus your energy on?

You may have clients who have visited you once for a consult or even a one off treatment and then never came back, for the time being forget these and put your energy and resources into finding out why the clients who used to be regulars, who bought multiple treatments from you, who have been coming for years etc have stopped coming in. I like to advise a multiple approach to this, firstly ask your staff and the client’s therapist for feedback about the client (this should be a regular monthly meeting to pick up this attrition early) – have they said anything, any feedback that needs taking into account. Secondly, never underestimate the power of picking up the phone or dropping them a note and asking the client directly. Be nice though, be honest, say you miss them and wondered id there’s any feedback they’ve like to give you – this could be in your mind minor but for them it was enough for them to ghost you so listen and learn. You could hear about appointment frustrations (running late?), treatment or therapist concerns, financial concerns, are they leaving you to go to a competitor? And if so why? What can you learn about what you offer from this?

Frequent pain points for clients:

Front of House – how are your clients greeted on the phone and in clinic? If they get the impression they aren’t valued, they will go elsewhere. Make sure your team are as friendly, warm, welcoming and professional as possible. Front of House is no place for a moody member of staff

Doctor / therapists – have a look at personalities here. Stressed doctors or therapists can make clients feel unconformable. No matter how professional and talented they are. Are they listening (really listening) to clients. Is there trust there? Do your clients feel in safe and secure hands? Everyone needs to put themselves in their clients shoes every now and again to ensure everyone feels comfortable. There is a direct correlation between the amount of trust and support in the client / practitioner relationship and the happiness of a client.

The treatments themselves – are they effective? Are expectations being managed? Are they being accurately sold? The worst client attrition and complaint rate I’ve ever seen was in a clinic where the manager was setting completely unrealistic expectations for the client to close a sale which was then creating a storm of unhappy clients and demotivated therapists – this clinic had both staff and clients leaving in droves.

Aftercare and follow up – it’s amazing how a call, email or even text to check on the client post appointment can build trust and relationships. It also gives you a great opportunity to ask for feedback and iron out any minor gripes before they become issues they’ll leave you over.

And finally I have to mention another side to this whole debate, the clients who you want to ditch! You know, that’s alright, clients who are a nightmare add no benefit to your business, they are time and soul vampires, sucking away your motivation and joy. It could be a personality clash or mismatched expectations but lose the guilt, ditch these clients (obviously professionally and carefully) and reclaim all that energy spent on them and pour it into the clients that do add something to your life and your business.

As a closing thought, client care and retention should be a fundamental mainstay of your clinic’s culture and each and every team member needs to understand this for it to become part of your company culture. Do this and soon you’ll have a healthy percentage of existing clients and the leaking bucket of clients leaving you will slow down significantly.