What are some ideas to resurrect a Lost client?
Came across this recently and thought it was a dandy! Worth sharing, and wanted to know what successful ideas you’ve used to restart working with a client you haven’t heard from in a while?
Here’s an interesting idea you can use to resurrect a client that you haven’t heard from in a while.
Send them a note, or an email saying “You’re sorry you haven’t kept in touch with them.”
It works.
Look at the sample email below. It helped me resume producing messages on hold for a client I hadn’t done any work for in over 3 years!
This was a client who would previously contact me only twice a year and then just stopped. I would reach out to them from time to time to see if we could resume producing the messages, but nothing ever really came of it until I tried this little gem.
Note: Contact Name and company have been changed and certain specifics have been removed for corporate privacy reasons, but the integrity of the messages remain in tact.
My Message:
TO: Kathy
FROM: John
SUBJECT: Sorry I Haven’t Been in Touch….
Hi Kathy-
I wanted to apologize for not getting in touch with you sooner about updating ___’s Messages On Hold. I know we discussed it briefly during the party for Jim late last year, but I have been so busy I just let it slip.
Anyway, I’ve had a little down time and thought I would send you a quick message to see where we stood on the updates. The next couple of weeks are good for me, but I’m going to be out of town early next month and want to put the project into my schedule as soon as possible.
I’ll talk to you soon, and thanks!
John
Kathy’s Reply
Hey John,
You must be reading my mind. I’ve been meaning to get these things updated. They’re really sounding old, but it’s tough to find the time to get you new message scripts….
Let me know what we need to do and how much it will cost and I’ll get back to you soon.
Thanks!
Kathy
What Happened Next?
I solved her lack of time problem. I told her I would write the scripts myself, if she just provided me with her usual press releases and other information sources she regularly distributed. All she needed to do was put me on the email list and I would pull pieces of information and put the scripts together.
I also recommended a schedule of 12 updates for the year. And I doubled the price of what I had charged them before per set of messages. I let her pre-pay the whole year in advance and offered her a small bookkeeping discount for doing so.
She said she would get 5 updates for the year and would pre-pay for the year and take the bookkeeping discount.
Fine. I had just increased the number of messages I produced for them from Zero to Five (In previous years I had produced 2 sets a year, at most) and doubled the revenue for each set of messages – a little less when you factor in the small bookkeeping discount.
HELLOOOOOoooo!! I could do THAT again! Couldn’t you?
Why Did This Work?
There are a lot of things going on in this communication and in my crafting my offer.
By my saying I was “Sorry I hadn’t been in touch,” it took away any feelings of guilt she may have had about not contacting me. It shifted all the responsibility for any lack of communication away from her, so she didn’t have to avoid my emails, or other forms of contact.
It opened the door so we could solve the problems we had. She needed new messages. I wanted her back as a regular customer and at a price I was happy with.
There are other things going on here as well, like creating a sense of urgency through my limited schedule. I also positioned myself with my offer – my price being a key component of that positioning (remember – I doubled it.)
And I offered the concept of “Money at a discount” through the bookkeeping allowance. Most importantly, I developed an opportunity to conduct more business on a more regular basis, by developing a schedule for the messages.
What are some ways you’ve restarted working with a client? Please share any interesting ideas you may have.
Original Post Feb/13/2013 | Posted by John Melley
