Wondering how to increase the talent and client retention rate in your practice? It all comes down to care.

When you’re running a busy growing practice, the people around you really matter. Like every business owner, you’ll have fantastic people—both clients and employees—who may choose to move on.

The problem is that when those we love working with and for choosing to move on from us, it can feed our own fears. The biggest of these is the fear that our practice or business will fail because we don’t have any clients or because we aren’t able to get the support that we need.

The truth is that churn—both client churn and employee churn—can certainly have a negative impact on any business. 40-60% of customers leave after using a product or service just once. The cost of acquiring a new customer vastly outweighs the cost of keeping your current clients.

There are similar impacts on your support staff. As of February 2022, the ABS reported that 1.3 million Australians – nearly 10% of those employed – left one job for another. And the highest share of those job changers were professionals. Generally, those are the people that we need to surround us in our own practices.

The answer to this churn is to increase customer and employee retention. But how can we increase talent and client retention rate?

How to increase talent and client retention rates

After a recent renovation, I needed to reset my studio. This meant getting some new tech to help me manage the various elements that I use in my practice. I did some research and thought I had settled on getting a new iMac, so I headed to our local JB HiFi.

The store was quite busy, so when I spoke to the gentleman behind the counter, I simply told him what I was looking for without getting into all the details of my practice and needs. But instead of just giving me what I wanted, he stopped to ask me what I needed it for.

I explained everything. He patiently listened and then said, ‘I think you just need this console rather than a whole new computer’. He showed me what I needed, and the total cost was less than $300. And while they didn’t have it in stock, he said, ‘I’ll write it all down, and I can order it in for you. And I’ll ensure you get it all set up. Just take a photo of your office set up and give me a call.’

I did what he said, and the result was that I ended up with an excellent solution that was far more affordable for my particular needs. He didn’t try to sell me a more expensive product that I didn’t really need. Instead, he tried to solve my problem for me. And this was all because he cared enough to give me his time, energy and, most importantly, care.

So, when it comes to increasing both talent and client retention rates, it all comes down to care.

Start with care

The number one thing that will make a difference in your retention rates of both clients and staff – and drive your retention rate to increase tenfold – is your level of care. While you can show your care in a huge number of ways, within your practice, it needs to encompass three things:

• Mindset

• Time

• Systems

Mindset

When it comes to building care into your practice, the first step is to create a mindset of care. Care needs to be the foundation of every decision and every step you take both with your clients and your employees.

This isn’t always easy to do. But one surefire way to make that change is to stop thinking about transactions. If you are too focused on transactions or money, then you aren’t able to do those things that show you care. Of course, you always need to be commercial, but counting every minute of every task for every client will only lead to you feeling frustrated.

Instead of focusing on what, you need to be focusing on who. Who are you talking to? Why are they reaching out to you? How can you help? While I’m not suggesting that you give away your work for free, being generous with what you do will help you build that care that builds talent and client retention.

Time

To build care (and retention), you also need to consider your time. This isn’t just about capacity or allocating time to work tasks. It's also about your access and availability.

Do your clients know they can reach out to you with questions? Do your staff feel the same way? If you are a coach and your clients aren’t able to speak to you until a scheduled time next month, they’ll likely move on. If your staff are given tasks but aren’t able to access you to fulfil them adequately, they’ll move on as well. Instead, focus on their personal growth and on what they need from you. And that means time.

Working out your availability means understanding what to prioritise. As you’ve likely guessed, it’s all about prioritising people and helping them feel like they belong, that they matter, and that you care about them and their own personal growth. Once they feel that, they’ll feel that you care, and that’s how you can increase your retention rate.

Systems

Finally, you need robust systems in place to support both your mindset and your availability. If you don’t have the right systems in place, you will burn both yourself and your staff out as you try to be everything to everybody.

Having care doesn’t mean giving so much that it impacts your own success. The right systems help you show care without burning out. This might be a Christmas card list in your CRM or a list of birthdays. Or it could be a regular review of clients' socials, allowing you to celebrate their wins or get in touch when other life events come up. Even just a rotating schedule that allows you to consistently ‘check in’ with clients can make a huge difference in your practice.

With your staff, one effective way to build in care and increase your retention rates is to have a daily huddle. This could be virtual or in person, as long as it allows your staff easy and daily access to you for any questions or to flesh out any concerns. Of course, your team might utilise some other system completely. As long as it works for you, that’s what matters.

How care can increase your retention rate by 10x

When you get the mindset, time and systems right, you’ll be in a position to increase your talent and client retention rates by up to 10x your current level. This will have a direct impact on your conversions, cash flow and ultimate success. And you’ll also have happier clients and staff (both good things).

Retention Rate Model

To get started, take a look at where you fall in the current actions and focus areas. Are you mindful and building a community? That’s great. But your next step is to move from mindful to paying attention and from community to how you manage your time.

As you move along the actions in the model, your focus changes, taking you from unaware (and with too much churn!) all the way through to the growth of your clients and team (with 10x the retention rate).

Questions

1. Where are you on the Retention Rate Model?

2. What steps can you take to implement the next level up?

3. What systems do you need to implement to help you level up?

I’d love to hear your thoughts….