Tag Archives: loyalty

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Specialization and How to Stand Out in Your Market

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Until the latter years of the 20th century, the majority of U.S. physicians were general practitioners who treated all manner of illness, unless one was a surgeon—that would be a general surgeon. Likewise, attorneys were expected to be multi-faceted legal advisers who could adequately represent aspiring homeowners when a property was purchased, counsel plaintiffs or defendants in legal battles that occasionally involved a jury trial, or guide clients as they wrote up a last will and testament. In the 1970s, most likely inspired by research that introduced more effective therapies into medical practice and in the legal sector, federal and state regulations whose purpose was to provide consumer protection that resulted from the increased complexity of national and global economies, distinct subspecialties eventually became the norm in both professions.

Freelance professionals are having a moment now as we respond to the growing phenomenon of specialization that is penetrating nearly every business entity and by necessity influences the way we operate. Most of you recognize that the ability to clearly define—brand—your expertise and the services you provide is a competitive advantage and many of you are probably inclined to rethink how you describe their services—and maybe also rethinking which services should be offered.

Blandly describing oneself as a provider of solutions that, for example, address human resources, IT, accounting/finance, or marketing needs may no longer capture attention. As B2B prospects continue to exercise agency and proactively research the solutions they need and give themselves a head start on finding someone who’s qualified to resolve that need, Freelancers are recognizing that the way to get noticed by a search committee is to leave no doubt that you are the best in the business within your specialty—your skill-set niche—and if your category of expertise is needed, you should be on the short-list for follow-up.

Paring down and focusing skills is already established in the Freelance technology sector, where it is commonplace to narrowly specialize, for example, in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence or machine learning, network administration, or blockchain smart contract development. To claim a specialty within your professional sector is, in fact, to operate within a niche market. You might also discover that it’s easier to stand out in a “small is beautiful” niche, where you only interact with prospects who are interested in your highly focused, expert-level skills.

In an era that favors specialization, owning a versatile skill set loses value. Thought leader opinions indicate that as industries become more complex, deep expertise is more sought-after than competencies that can address a wide range of tasks. Your prospects are less inclined to see advantages in broad-based capabilities; instead, they now see a jack of all trades and master of none. B2B search committees echo the new normal narrative: to manage the complexities of modern business the trend is to hire Freelancers who demonstrate specialized expertise that can be used to deliver specialized solutions. It’s compartmentalizing by another name; but it makes sense to sell your customers the way they want to be sold (as you know).The ultimate validation is that those with niche expertise are often more highly paid.

Clarity and precision

Simplicity makes things understandable, memorable and dependable. Unless you are well-known and connected, operating within the big pond known as the general marketplace for your Freelance sector is almost guaranteed to make you an overlooked little fish who’s surrounded by big fish who gobble up the billable hours and leave you struggling to survive and thrive. Being one of many competent Freelance professionals makes it difficult to stand out when your audience is broad. Prospects who search your service category will likely encounter several other talented Freelancers and may therefore be unable to recognize who can efficiently deliver the best solution.

But when you adjust your business strategy to limit your target market to prospects who seek a specific segment of your expert services—not just HR services, but benefits management or employee compensation, for example—and you confirm that the niche market sector is viable and sustainable, you will receive competitive advantages:

  • Narrowing your marketing strategies to communicate with prospects who have a hyper-specific problem to resolve or goal to achieve can position you as the leading authority in your tightly focused market and greatly reduce competition.
  • Micro-niche businesses facilitate deeper customer relationships that are nurtured through personalized marketing messages that are able to enhance trust, loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing.
  • Specializing in a small market segment allows for more efficient resource allocation and improved return on investment re: outcomes (conversion of prospects to customers).

A credible and visible authority

When you focus your specialized expertise and operate within an exclusive niche, the number of your competitors can only decrease, making it easier to position yourself as a respected thought leader and authority. As noted above, you can also expect to be able to increase the amount of your standard billable rate because specialization enhances perceived value to the customer. Moreover, by strategically limiting the number of potential customers, over time you will learn to craft highly specific marketing messages that directly address what matters most to your exclusive group of prospects—and, as noted above, helps you to nurture customer relationships. You’ll “get it” and they’ll know it and they will become your devoted, long-term customers. Your marketing could evolve from “covering all bases” platitudes to spot-on understanding of their challenges, goals and priorities.

Micro-niche growth strategy

Identifying a potentially viable B2B niche skill for your Freelance entity can become a launchpad, not a limitation and enable you to develop and package yourself and your entity yourself as a well-known and respected big fish (in a small, exclusive pond). While some of your colleagues may feel that a large potential customer base holds more opportunities, but that assumption is losing validity. In the B2B sector, attempting to sell to everyone is becoming less effective every year; rather, Freelancers who limit their focus to a select group of prospective customers are winning more contracts and are poised to dominate in revenue generated. Here’s your roadmap to specialization success:

  • Step 1: Dominate the micro-niche. Become the recognized leader in an exclusive sector.
  • Step 2: Move to adjacent niches. Expand your presence to similar groups who have similar problems or goals.
  • Step 3: Expand horizontally. Add new add-on or upgrade services to the core audience.

Closing thought

To achieve your goal of establishing and sustaining a profitable Freelance entity it is necessary to stand out and distinguish yourself as a thought leader, an authority and trusted source who is not just one of many “sound-alike” Freelancers who is trying to survive in a competitive B2B services marketplace. Resist the temptation to chase down every prospect who might be interested in your solutions. Instead, find the confidence to specialize, perhaps by focusing on an underserved customer group that is motivated by an urgent need to find a specialized solution and also has the potential to become a viable market. As the legendary Diana Vreeland (1903-1989), who was the Fashion Editor at Harper’s Bazaar Magazine (1939-1962) and later became Editor-in-Chief at Vogue Magazine (1963 -1971) said, “Elegance is refusal.” Ms. Vreeland understood that trying to be all things to all people is folly.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Yayoi Kusama. Kusama, 2000 courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo

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Curb Customer Churn

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Does your business exist in a one-off world? Once you’ve had the pleasure of bringing in a new customer, completed the transaction and received payment, what’s the likelihood of that customer doing business with you again? Acquiring new customers are a feather in your cap and your reason for being but as Dad told me, when it comes to money it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep. That bit of wisdom refers not only to business and living expenses: it also refers to your ability to keep customers coming back.

The expected percentage of repeat customers is different for every business, but it’s widely known that customer loyalty, demonstrated by repeat business, is a success factor and customer churn, also known as customer attrition and refers to the rate that customers disappear from your business, ought to be limited. Nurturing customer loyalty that translates into repeat business and adds to the long-term value of your customers is a much better use of your resources than constantly chasing new customers—even though attracting new customers is an eternal business necessity. See below a sample of customer retention statistics sorted by industry. How does your customer list look in comparison?

Top Customer Retention Stats in 2025 (source: Exploding Topics September 12, 2025)

  • Media services customer retention rate (84%).
  • Professional services customer retention rate (84%)
  • Tech/IT services customer retention rate 81%
  • IT/software services customer retention rate 77%
  • Consumer services customer retention rate 67%
  • Hospitality/travel/restaurant customer retention rate 55%.
  • Facebook 24-month user retention rate 69.6%
  • LinkedIn 24-month user retention rate 59% (estimate–LinkedIn does not release this metric)
  • Instagram 24-month user retention rate 39.1%
  • Pinterest 24-month user retention rate 37.5%
  • Snapchat 24-month user retention rate 30.2%
  • Twitter/ X 24-month user retention rate 22.9%
  • Customers who have a positive experience spend 140% more than those who have a bad experience.
  • Email is the top delivery method used to contact customers and encourage retention (89%)
  • 75% is the average customer retention rate across all industries
  • 60% of customers believe that good customer service is essential to promote customer retention.

Owners and leaders of what is probably the majority of commercial enterprises are inclined to believe the prevailing opinion that claims it costs the average business entity 5x more to bring in a new customer than it costs to keep an existing customer. In fact, research done by Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company found that increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profit anywhere from 25% to as much as 95%. The standard advice about customer retention appears to be still valid, but thought leaders now warn that hyper-prioritizing customer retention introduces the risk of losing focus on what really matters—connecting with customers and delivering value. Freelancers and business leaders must understand which customers are worthy of receiving resources intended to recruit their business and which are worthy of resources intended to keep their business. In that way, finding a balance between the two apparently opposed, but nevertheless important, customer segments can be achieved.

When considering how much to spend to either acquire or retain customers, it’s essential to consider the customer’s lifetime value (CLV), the long-term revenue potential of a customer. When discussing business decisions about attracting new customers and keeping existing customers, University of Pennsylvania/ Wharton Business School Marketing Professor Peter Fader told Forbes Magazine Senior Contributor Blake Morgan, “Here’s my take on that old belief: who cares? Decisions about customer acquisition, retention and development shouldn’t be driven by cost considerations—they should be based on future value.”

Still, getting ghosted by customers is not to be disingenuously explained away. You need to know what motivated now former customers to stop doing business with you. Then you must fix the problem(s). Unfulfilled expectations are known to result in high churn rates as customers jump ship and either take up with a competitor or do without. You can calculate your company’s churn rate by dividing the number of customers you worked with during a specific time period by the number of customers you worked with at the start of that time period. Quarterly, semi-annual, or annual churn calculations will give useful insights to Freelance professionals and other business owners.

Common causes of customer churn

  • Difficult user experience: if some aspect of using the product or service is frustrating, customers are likely to use the product/service less often and they’ll be unlikely to recommend it to friends.
  • Unsatisfying customer experience: if customers do not feel welcome, or if the process of doing business is disorganized and appears unprofessional, it leaves a bad impression. Furthermore, many customers expect a personalized experience and would like your company to periodically introduce new features or upgrades to your product or service that add functionality, luxury, or other distinction that heightens the experience. If this expectation is unfulfilled, some customers will leave.
  • Competitor intervention: every business has competitors, but it is important to discover why customers think the grass is greener somewhere else. Are those customers a bad fit for your business, or was your offering a poor product/market fit for them all along? Alternatively, might some customers be more price-sensitive of late and feel compelled to explore lower-priced solutions? Or, is there something you are doing—or not doing? Once you figure out the cause of the ghosting, you can decide who is worth working to keep and who can be let go.
  • Incomplete onboarding: it is beneficial to teach buyers how to appropriately utilize the product or service that’s been purchased and coaching them on the optimal use of the service or product purchased is especially urgent when the customer has paid several hundred to several thousand dollars. An onboarding process that provides adequate user education will also address customer expectations of personalization and counteract difficult user experiences and, in most cases, head off an unsatisfactory customer experience.

Minimize customer churn

There will always be customers who leave your company to take up with another and the reasons for that are varied—needs evolve, budgets shrink, competitors appear. Nevertheless, directing your focus to customer priorities and expectations to shape your delivery of positive experiences will minimize customer churn and maximize customer satisfaction and retention. In short, make it rewarding to do business with your organization. It has been shown (see above) that the impact of a satisfying and memorable customer experience is enormous— customers spend 140% more if their past experience with a business is positive compared to those customers who encounter a negative experience. Top companies know how important customer experience is in maintaining high retention. The marketing pros at Hubspot suggest a short list of practices that will limit customer churn.

  • Invite customer feedback by creating a short survey to send to customers you’ve worked with over the past four or five years. It’s important to know what customers perceive as your company’s strengths and weaknesses and get insight into how their needs and expectations have evolved. Besides, you might even provide incentive for a lapsed client to return!
  • Provide excellent customer service, from onboading to after-sale support. Define a user roadmap, especially for new customers.
  • Create a welcoming and supportive customer experience. Community building is a powerful engagement strategy that keeps customers talking about your brand. Use social media to create a community for customers and use it to generate loyalty that creates referrals and repeat business.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © SCMP Pictures. Shoppers riding the escalators in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island (2015).

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5 Genius Questions for Your Customer Survey

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Every business owner or leader must study his/her customers (or potential customers for those in start-up or new product launch mode) and gather as much potentially useful information about them as possible. The first and greatest commandment of business is “know thy customer” and the research must continue for the life of the business. We can never stop learning.

The important matter of measuring customer satisfaction and customer loyalty became the life’s work of Frederick F. Reichheld, now an Emeritus Director of the Boston, MA consulting firm Bain and Company, also the founder of its Loyalty practice and author of The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth (2006). Reichheld reported that it took two years of studying customer satisfaction and customer loyalty survey responses and correlating those responses to actual customer behavior—i.e., purchases and referrals made and then linking customer behavior to growth—to discover that a single survey question can reliably predict sales revenue growth.

The big reveal question does not directly address either customer satisfaction or customer loyalty. Rather, it simply inquires about customers’ willingness to recommend a product or service to someone else. While other factors besides customer loyalty play a role in driving a company’s growth—economic or industry expansion, a product or service line that reflects the needs and tastes of current and prospective customers, good financial management and so on—repeat business and good word of mouth are indisputably two of the most important drivers of sales revenue growth and in general, no company can be profitable without them.

Loyal customers talk up a company to friends, family and colleagues. Their recommendations are among the truest demonstrations of loyalty because the customer puts his/her own reputation on the line when making them. Customers will risk their reputations only if they feel intense loyalty.

The customer experience is, I am certain, another significant factor in a customer’s willingness to recommend a business and many actions contribute to that experience. Marketing Departments point survey questions toward metrics they control, such as brand image, pricing and product features and benefits. But a customer’s willingness to recommend a business is also connected to how well the customer is treated by the front line employees—are they friendly (but not intrusive)? Are they helpful?

According to Reichheld’s findings, customer loyalty differs subtly but substantively from customer satisfaction. Gauging loyalty by way of the usual customer-satisfaction survey questions is not helpful. His research indicates that customer satisfaction lacks a consistently demonstrable connection to customer behavior and growth. Reichheld says it is difficult to identify a sufficiently strong correlation between high customer satisfaction scores and outstanding sales growth. “The question ‘How satisfied are you with (company X’s) overall performance?’ is a relatively weak predictor of growth,” he says.

One of the main takeaways from Reichheld’s research is that companies can keep customer surveys simple. The most basic surveys, providing that the right questions are asked, can allow companies to obtain timely data that is actionable. Reichheld goes so far to assert that a customer feedback program should be viewed not as “market research” but as an operating management tool. Below are five of Reichheld’s survey questions.

  • How likely is it that you would recommend (company X) to a friend or colleague?
  • How likely is it that you will continue to purchase products/services from (company X)?
  • How strongly do you agree that (company X) makes it easy for you to do business with it?
  • If you were selecting a similar provider for the first time, how likely is it that you would you choose (company X)?
  • How satisfied are you with (company X) overall performance?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: (l-r) Phyllis Povah, Rosalind Russell and Joan Crawford in The Women (1939). Sales girl Crawford is showing her customers the fictitious fragrance “Summer Rain.”