Retain those who matter most

Stickiness is how well your business and the offering it provides resonates with its stakeholders. The stickier the more long-lasting and committed relationships you will have with your clients, employees and partners.

A key benefit of retaining your stakeholders is making your finances and the resources you require more predictable. Fluctuating figures will always breed uncertainty. As well as this, loyal stakeholders are more likely to provide greater output, than short-term, fleeting relationships. From an employee point of view, this will mean they are more engaged and productive; from a client’s perspective, this will ensure greater profitability and less onboarding cost.

With increasing competition and focus on marketing, it’s essential your brand is the first that comes to mind when people think of quality and consistency.

A limiting mindset – Hide the truth

Stakeholders trust transparent companies who are willing to share information. The more valuable content you can provide to demonstrate you ‘know your stuff,’ the greater the chance that you will stand out.

Consider the most frequently asked questions you receive about your product or service. Explain your answers as simply and honestly as you can and put them on your website, social media, or other content stream. If people approve of your solution, they move one rung of the ladder closer to selecting your business. If they aren’t satisfied with your explanation, they will look elsewhere. Do not fear this. If you are true to what your organisation stands for and how you wish to operate, then the you are already pre-qualifying potential leads.

What are the main barriers that prevent people from engaging with your brand? Flip these concerns and outline the opposing benefits. Show them that you have thought from their point-of-view; this will engender more interest, than bland, generic blurb from another company.

Anticipate how your potential stakeholders might be feeling and design your content around this. This extrospective approach can only increase your popularity.

A missing element – Consistency

The most successful businesses provide a consistent experience.

The key to producing reliable results is having effective systems in place. This might sound like common sense, but what often prevents leaders from implementing these is a high investment of time, effort and resources required at the offset. These operations will hopefully serve you over a good period, so it’s more than worthwhile ensuring they’re set up correctly.

Efficient systems don’t appear overnight and need proper planning work best.

As far as is possible, whist regarding the needs of each stakeholder, consider establishing systems for the following aspects:

Production: If you have a physical product, how can you simplify its manufacture?

Delivery: What can make your service efficient and pleasurable for your stakeholders?

Quality control: How will you make sure your offering is of the highest standard?

Feedback: What method of communication will you use to gauge stakeholder opinion?

It’s reassuring to deal with a company that demonstrably knows what it’s doing. For potential stakeholders it will increase the likelihood that they will choose you; for existing stakeholders it will work towards retaining them.

A different perspective – Consistent or bespoke?

In relation to the point I just made, you don’t want processes that are so consistent they seem robotic. This will make your stakeholders feel like just another number. You must find the perfect balance between efficiency and personalisation.

Here’s a case study that might assist you in understanding how this could work:

You receive a complaint from a loyal customer. They are displeased with your product and have clearly explained their grievances. Reading their complaint, it’s clear you it’s not an issue with your offering, but rather with their expectations of it. They haven’t read the description properly. It’s your company policy not to offer a refund in this situation.

However, this person is a recurring and regular customer. What should you do?

In this situation, I would advocate apologising to the customer (despite your probable instincts) and offering them a refund. You risk your reputation and their future business by refusing it. This scenario shows that whilst consistency is the target, breaking the rules, when necessary, can sometimes be the better option.

To embed stickiness into your organisation, treat your stakeholders like real people; that’s all they’re asking for. Although the competition in your market may be greater, there are a good number of companies that aren’t willing to deviate from their policy and provide a bespoke experience.

Be honest, be reliable and be personable.