Do you know why that customer just cancelled? How about the one before?
Some attrition is inevitable in the security industry. Some of it results from factors outside of your control: customer moves, deaths, financial issues (for example, job loss or bankruptcy), and other customer life issues affecting demand. Attrition can also be an indicator of customer dissatisfaction – when accounts cancel for reasons related to your company’s performance or when a competitor is able to win over your customers with its marketing promotions or sales strategies. Non-payment may signal customer financial issues, customer service issues, or system non-use, as well as lapses in your billing and collections processes.
The first step to lowering your attrition is to capture the “real” reasons behind every cancellation. There are many ways to collect good cancellation data, including:
• Establishing a uniform set of standardized codes or descriptions for cancellation reasons and train employees to use them, and documenting additional information on forms (paper or online) used in the cancellation process;
• Giving your customer service representatives, billing and collections employees and others who may receive and process cancellations a script of questions to ask;
• Keep detailed account records for each customer at every stage of the customer lifecycle (sales and installation, service, billing and collections).
Armed with good data, you can identify and deal with factors that may be contributing to cancellations.
Want more information on how to monitor your attrition with good data tracking? In our upcoming whitepaper, “
Attrition: The Silent Killer,” Alarm Capital Alliance explains the fundamentals of attrition and provides key strategies for combating attrition. Also, check back here for upcoming blogs with more information and tips for measuring, monitoring and dealing with attrition.
