Self Assessment – Lapsed

Not much scoring taking place in this category. This could be down to the fact that you don’t have a trading history in your market to have had customers lapse. Be it a new market you’re now working or you’re new to recruitment there is still some learning points from this. Customers go through cycles – recruitment drives, growth spurts and special projects can create high levels of spend with agencies. This doesn’t last forever, in most cases. The client then goes dormant, to return again at some point in the future. Other clients lapse because key players leave and new managers bring in their own preferred suppliers. Sometimes, we ditch the client or the client ditches us.

So what? Well – think about your existing clients. How many of them could be lapsed clients this time next year? Any of the above conditions could impact you in the future. Client retention strategies start when you make your first placement. Make sure you have a plan as to how you are going to retain your existing customers. If you have single points of contact – fix it now before your contact leaves. If you have a client who you’re starting to resent – asking too much of you or treating you like “a supplier” then fix it now, otherwise when they lapse you’ll write them off as a bad client. Worst of all, if you’ve dropped the ball with a client or keep feeling on the back foot – step up and sort it out. Ignoring it will only make it worse. The hardest client to win is the one you lost due to ignoring the early warning signs of unhappiness.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Complete the rest of the Bounce Back Pack
• Write a list of the clients you consider to be your customers – a list of managers rather than companies. What is your retention strategy with each of these managers? What is your aftercare strategy? Rate the level of commitment you get from each of these managers from 1-10. Set a plan to increase each by 2 points over the next six weeks. How are you going to make this happen?
• Look at the mission I Need More Client Control. Better to keep customers than try to bring back lapsed or lost customers

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Pretty good scoring. Seems like you got a pretty good handle on your lapsed customers and what your plan is with them. Perhaps some fine tuning could help? Client can lapse for a variety of reasons:

• Recruitment drives come to a natural end and the client plateaus
• Projects complete and workload settles
• External challenges impact on clients and they redraw their strategy and potentially contract in size
• Consultants start to resent clients and stop working with them – time wasters, poor communication and fake jobs (not to mention low fees) all create resentment
• Clients lose faith in their recruitment agency or change their strategic intent regarding hiring (bring in a talent team, appoint an RPO, formalize a PSL)
• Both parties lose contact with each other

If you’ve decided to not work with certain clients, that’s your choice. Could the conditions have changed? The contacts left who made it difficult? New regime, new culture or new hiring plans could have been implemented without you knowing. Worth checking out?

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Complete the rest of the Bounce Back Pack
• Create a client retention strategy for your current customers. Who are the crown jewel customers you work with. What is their plan regarding recruitment for the next three years? Not vacancies but supply chain and route to market. How can you remain valuable to them as they evolve? Customers can sometimes outgrow a supplier.
  Which are your most vulnerable customers that you could lose? What can you do to strengthen your position? Who in your pipeline could replace them if you lost them?
• Do you have a newsletter as a business or for your specific desk? A regular communication with lapsed customers about the market can help maintain attention and build trust
• Watch the The Pillars Planning, Negotiation and Urgency

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Great scoring here. You’ve clearly got a grip on your lapsed client universe (or have never had a client lapse). Either way it is an enviable position to be in. Those lapsed clients that you think you will win back or work again in 2020, have you arranged to meet? A Zoom meeting can help to cement commitment and a shared screen to put together a plan with an interactive whiteboard can help you and your contacts understand each other better. With this area under control, it’s perhaps time to think about developing more business with some new clients. According to the relationships you have with your existing and lapsed clients, a referral strategy could prove valuable. Managers can refer you to other people to work with, just as candidates can introduce you to other candidates. If your market is very cyclical (projects ebb and flow), spot business orientated (single placements at senior level), seasonal (different clients peaking at different times) or super niche (small departments where repeat business is low) then lapsed customers will be more common. A communication strategy with email campaigns, newsletters or a blog can help maintain engagement whilst not hiring.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Complete the rest of the Bounce Back Pack
• Book demand forecast and planning meetings with key stakeholders in the lapsed customers you believe you will work with again in 2020
• Arrange an online networking event/presentation for existing and lapsed customers. Increase your visibility across your customer base to develop your personal brand
• Set a referral plan to maximise on your brand and reputation with lapsed and existing customers. Ask every contact to introduce you to three more decision-makers
• Where applicable, aftercare your placements across your lapsed customer base to get feedback and insight as to the state of play in the business (and perhaps pick up some leads and referrals)
• Create a client retention strategy for your current customers. Who are the crown jewel customers you work with. What is their plan regarding recruitment for the next three years? Not vacancies but supply chain and route to market. How can you remain valuable to them as they evolve? Customers can sometimes outgrow a supplier.

Download these recommendations as a To Do list