Reimagining & Implementing a Fortune 500's Retention Program

I had the unique opportunity to help reimagine and implement a client retention strategy for a division of a Fortune 500 company as a rep.

I was one of ten top reps out of ~1K nationally, who were brought in to consult with the Executive Board regarding ways to improve client retention.

What we had to change was clear - we had to change everything.

First, the way reps were incentivized wasn't conducive to retaining clients.

During an in-person brainstorming session, we considered everyday challenges entry-level reps faced when trying to make ends meet.

We agreed that retention in the current pay structure wasn't conducive to their success.

A 6-week wait for retention bonuses for fully-commisioned reps was too long.

It also incentivized them to write larger orders, and not worry about retention.

We worked with the client to create a new incentivization system.

As leaders, we were responsible for implementing it at the ground-level, ensuring success for all parties.

We had to change the way we trained our reps, refresh reps' mindsets on customer interaction, create retention-based collateral, plus SLAs for accountability.

We also had to change our entire sales pitch and system.

We began treating retention like a team sport, where each office won and lost together as one unit.

We also revamped our customer qualification practices.

Most importantly, we had to teach customers how to use the system when we weren't around.

This meant passing up on sales when there was a better opportunity later in the day or week to take 5 minutes and show them how to get our discounts on their own.

Our office had spent several years as the top producing office prior to these changes and was the first office to successfully implement the new retention strategies.

We even created collateral and training systems that were implemented on a national scale.

1. A new subscription service that offered consistent discounts and incentives (world's largest)
 
2. Varying levels of consitent, preferred pricing (based on usage)
 
3. Cool, new gifts for subscription customers (brand-consistent for this organization).

1. Hundreds more per week in performance bonuses for signing up more accounts while hitting retention
 
2. Bonuses for having clients order on the web on their own
 
3. Rolling 6-week residuals for retaining 40% of their clients at 40% of their previous spend

1. Over 90% of over 50 offices nationally consistently hitting retention standards (previously less than 5)
 
2. Customers transitioned to a subscription service, simplifying long-term retention for call center reps
 
3. Rep turnover plummeted, as people unable to write large sales could now earn considerably more
 
4. A more customer-centric approach, positioning them avantageously against Amazon

The client has always had a great reputation as the provider of choice for SMBs.

We had to shift the representatives' and buyers' mindsets away from only buying when reps came around.

It now benefitted everyone for customers to leverage the service in an online format.

Nearly a decade has passed, and though it's been rebranded, that company still uses the same retention program today.

With these changes in sales operations, training, and onboarding, reps now wrote bigger paychecks, too.

Literally, everyone won: the customer, the representatives, and the client.

If you're facing client retention challenges, fill out the form below and lets chat about how I can help.