We are a private health service business and one of our partners is retiring soon. http://www.thelaneshealthandbeauty.com/tramadol-uk/. Whilst we are making a staff replacement, what should we be aware of?

Services are all about people and when people leave clients can go through a process of considering whether to stay or switch.

To retain existing clients it’s important to

• Introduce the new point of contact
• Gather feedback on a regular basis and act on it where needed
• Make the person feel as if no real change has happened
• Make sure the client feels welcome and well looked after

Sometimes it’s more than what you say. Physical clues such as smiling when the person comes into the room and asking ‘is there anything else’ are really important.

A firm of solicitors I know lost quite a few clients when a senior staff member retired and was replaced by a more qualified person, who in my opinion, was a much better solicitor, but she didn’t have the ability to talk and make clients feel welcome, so they voted with their feet. The firm had done so well in growing the business but lost 3 major clients in 3 months.

Also, it’s important to gather feedback and below are some questions you could ask. There are only 6 questions but they’re all important. Someone may be happy with the service, but is ‘not likely’ to return and that would need further exploring.

You could ask these questions based on a scale of 1 to 4; with 4 = very happy and 1= not very happy

The questions
1 – Thinking about your visit today, were you happy with the service from the receptionist?
2 – And were you happy with the service from the consultant?
3 – Were you happy with the overall service received today?

Then three more questions; with 4 = very likely and 1 = not very likely
4 – How likely are you to visit us again?
5 – How likely are you to recommend us?
6 – Is there any other way we can improve our service?