Where to Focus Your Retention Efforts

Forrester Research conducts an annual consumer satisfaction survey called the Consumer Experience Index.In the survey, they ask customers to rate their experiences with various companies from 1 (very bad) to 7 (very good).When collecting the data, they categorize the responses into three groups:Group A (champions)—clients with a score of 7.Group B (positives)—clients with scores 4 – 6.Group C (negatives)—clients with scores 1 – 3.When presented with this data, companies either attempt to eliminate the negatives (turn 1 – 3s into 4s or higher) or elevate the positives (turn 4 – 6s into 7s).Which is a better strategy?On almost every performance metric, spending time and effort on “elevating the positives” produces better results.In fact, Forrester estimates that companies earn 9 times more revenue by “elevating the positives” than by attempting to “eliminate the negatives.”Is it possible this consumer retention principle would also apply to agent retention?  I don’t know of anyone who has specifically researched this topic, but I suspect it would.Since you only have a limited amount of time to spend on retention, dedicate it on trying to convert your positives into champions.It will produce a better return than trying to save your negatives.