Do you focus more upon acquiring or retaining clients? Research shows that your profits can grow as much as 100% from a 10% increase in client retention. Still, every year U.S. businesses lose from 10% to 30% of their customers, 82% of whom could be held onto given more responsive attitudes and an obsession for making things right!

Have you tried to achieve or sustain double-digit growth when you have to replace 20% of your client base every year? No thank you; I don't want the job!

Play for keeps with your clients. Here's how:

•  Relate 1:1 with them.
With the average cost of landing a new client five to seven times more expensive than retaining a current one, share of client - not of share of market - rules. It's a groundbreaking idea from consultants Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. Dig deep. It's cheaper and easier to sell more to existing clients than it is to win new ones. What's your share of client?

•  Reinforce relationships.
All business relationships are personal, and no relationship is static. Seize every chance to learn about your clients' realities, to communicate and to reinforce the reasons clients chose your firm in the first place. Yes, you do get a second chance to make a first impression. And a third. And a fourth. You get that opportunity with every visit, letter, proposal, phone call, email and fax!

•  Double team clients.
People do business with people, not companies. As a partner in your firm, pay non-selling visits to your clients at least twice a year. Permit an associate to become the sole or principal point of contact, and you risk losing the client if you lose the associate. Ensure carry-forward by assigning another "go to" person for every account. Or, assume the role yourself! Focus upon the few clients who drive the majority of your revenues. However, be sure not to overlook smaller, high-potential outfits. Be there for them now, and they'll be there for you forever!

•  Build bench strength.
Build organizational allies deeply and broadly. In cultivating relationships, don't neglect to acknowledge junior associates and other staffers. One in four people change jobs or companies every year. The junior associate just could be sitting in the decision-maker's chair next year or be in a position to influence a newcomer's choices of suppliers. Interact often with your clients' people. Nobody owns a client; you own relationships!

•  Exceed expectations.
Meeting clients' expectations is your price of admission into today's market. The question to ask is "how can we exceed expectations to the extent we create commitment, or loyalty, on clients' parts?" Technology, competition and choices have installed buyers permanently in the drivers' seats. Expect to lose business if you continue to meet clients' needs. Instead, discover and deliver what clients want!

•  Become an expert listener.
While it's important to position yourself as an expert, don't act like one. Experts don't listen. Demonstrate your knowledge and score more points by asking the right questions and by listening. Let clients spill their guts. Let them tell you where it hurts. Grant them some ownership in your solutions. You'll meet less resistance and earn more respect. He who talks dominates conversations; she who listens controls them.

•  Be different-differentiate.
You compete on price or value today. Differentiate your services in clients' minds by adding choice, specialization, research, responsiveness, technology or knowledge. Seventy percent or more of all clients do not buy on price alone. Your job is to offer the best overall value, not the lowest price. Here, too, is a case for building relationships where price may be questioned but almost never placed at issue.

•  Establish alliances.
When two firms combine their strengths, they often can achieve more together than they can separately. Look to suppliers, clients and even competitors for joint opportunities that will add value for your clients. Technology firms, hotels and airlines provide scores of examples. Just be careful: you want to partner with firms that offer complementary services, not those that will dine on you and your client base.

•  Involve your clients.
Hold forums, invite clients to participate in seminars and special events (e.g. a golf tournament) or get closer over meals, ballgames, theater or other social and recreational outings. Outside the office, you're likely to learn important truths about your business and how people perceive you. What you believe is one thing; what they believe is everything.

•  Make the cost of switching high.
The greater the share of a client's needs you address, the higher their cost of switching to a competitor. In which ways will clients become even more dependent upon you? Use technology to your advantage by installing on-line technical support, streamlining processes, invoicing systems and by establishing other proprietary linkages. Consider the "lifetime value" of a client, and invest in them as you would your children's educations. Your ROI will be absolutely, positively amazing!

•  Practice R&R.
Take no relationship for granted, and pay particular attention to your largest clients and those with whom you have done business the longest. In all likelihood, they will have the highest expectations or be the most demanding of you. Recognize and reward clients' loyalty on a regular basis, understanding that competitors are betting that over time you'll drop the ball. As important as it is to do things right, it's more important to do the right things. How do you recognize and reward loyalty?

•  Resolve issues on the spot.
Higher math is required to calculate the direct and indirect costs associated with losing a single client. Resolve issues on the spot, and make doing business with you easy and pleasant. Follow sales trainer and speaker Jeffrey Gitomer's sage advice: (1) the cost of fixing a problem never exceeds the cost of not fixing the problem; and (2) the cost of keeping a client happy never exceeds the cost of making a client unhappy.

•  Take care of your own.
There is a correlation between retaining associates and keeping clients. Your employees will regard your clients in much the same way you regard your employees. Appreciation, good working relationships, challenging work and the opportunity for skill development top most people's wish lists.

One final thought: business relationships ultimately succeed or fail based upon perceptions and interactions between and among people, not upon service, product, process, price or even performance.

A frequent presenter at association and company-sponsored events, consultant, trainer and speaker Walt Slaughter offers a range of programs to help companies win, wow and keep customers and clients. Contact Walt at 615-781-2226, wslaughter@waltslaghter.com or via his web site www.waltslaughter.com .