Use the information you have gathered during your Lapsed Customer Fact Find stage to complete this self-assessment.
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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
Pretty good scoring. Seems like you’ve 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:
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
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 2021, 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
I know who my lapsed customers are and have identified who I would, and would not, like to work with again
Strongly disagree Strongly Agree
I have maintained regular contact through 2020 with lapsed customers
Strongly disagree Strongly Agree
I have a defined strategy to re-engage with my lapsed customers and have commitment from them that they will work with me this year
Strongly disagree Strongly Agree