All of us have to stop and ask ourselves some important questions about our customers. What customer are we trying to capture today? What customers are our most profitable customers and how are we trying to capture them? What tools do we use for capture? What tools do we use for retention?

The art of capturing clients is many times a tightrope walk. It seems easy when the orders are flowing and customers are waiting in line. The truth of how we go about developing our growth becomes more apparent when the orders slow down. Did we ever take the time to figure out what our customers want in each step of the relationship? This comes down to many times our inability to see the forest for the trees. We need someone on the outside of our company to help us gain clarity on what our customers see and need. Even more importantly we need to rethink about the missed opportunities of building our value. Our customers want to know that they are using us for more than price.

Are we capturing customers or are we capturing the trust of customers? If we are capturing their trust then that requires us to rethink how we are pursing, qualifying, capturing, satisfying, thanking, and retaining customers. Through a true relationship analysis we begin to see how to capture a customer based on the right factors and the right focus. A simple analysis of how we define what we are capturing will directly impact the quality and length of the relationship.