To grow relationship value, you must be able to retain existing relationships and present customers with new opportunities. Retention will occur when customers are able to apply and succeed with the products they have purchased, and growth will come when customers recognize that your solution is essential to their success. Successful customer retention and growth activities must include the following:

• Assure that customers remain actively engaged and productive with the products they own.

• Conduct ongoing assessments to determine if customers are satisfied. Use appropriate assessment techniques such as a health index, transactional surveys, customer interviews and relationship surveys.

• Help customers to understand the benefits they receive from services. Go beyond the number of times a customer has called and help them understand how Success and Support entitlements positively impact their ability to conduct business.

• Nurture and retain existing customers and identify opportunities to grow the relationship by creating opportunities to apply new product and services.

• Institute polices and allocate staffing to proactively ask customers for the renewal. Don’t assume that customers will renew, ask them.

• When customers decline to renew their services investigate the underlying reasons and formulate plans to overcome renewal objections.