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This Is Where Your Clients Decide to Love You, Leave You, or Forget You Ever Existed
November 2025
Read time: 6 minutes, 45 seconds
L ast month, I asked you a question: If you got everything you could from everyone who already knows your name, what would your business look like a year from now? That wasn’t rhetorical. It was an invitation to stop chasing and start paying attention. We discussed the four levers — more buyers, higher average sale prices, longer stays, and bringing a friend — and the math that proves small improvements across all four create outsized profits. However, here’s what I left out: Knowing the levers exist doesn’t tell you where to push them. This month, I want to show you exactly where that push occurs. The specific moments in your client relationship where trust either deepens or drains. I call them hinge moments. Get these right, and the levers start moving on their own. The First Win A “first win” doesn’t have to be a dramatic result. Sometimes, it’s as simple as making the purchase itself — they chose you, they committed, and that decision alone is a small victory. At other times, it’s the first visible outcome: a problem solved, a goal achieved, or a disaster averted. Either way, something shifts. They stop wondering if they made the right choice. They start believing. Most businesses let this moment pass without comment. The client wins, you move on to the next task, and the emotional peak fades into the background noise of daily business.
third, 62%. The relationship isn’t locked in until they’ve crossed that threshold multiple times. The first win is your best chance to start that momentum. When trust is high, when they’re most open to hearing about what else you can help with, and most likely to tell a friend. If you’re not present in that moment, you’re leaving money and loyalty on the table. The First Problem Something will go wrong. A delay. A miscommunication. A result that didn’t turn out as expected. This is inevitable, and it’s also an opportunity most businesses fumble. Continued on Page 2 ...
That’s a mistake.
Here’s why it matters so much: After a first purchase, there’s only a 27% chance that a customer will come back for a second purchase. However, after a second purchase, the rate jumps to 49%. After a
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The natural instinct is to get defensive or go quiet. Neither works. What works is showing up faster than expected, owning the issue without excuses, and fixing it in a way that surprises them. Here’s what I’ve learned: Just because something goes wrong doesn’t mean a client will leave you. The client leaves because of how you handled the situation when something went wrong. A first problem handled well can actually deepen trust more than if the problem had never happened at all. They think, “If this is how they treat me when things go sideways, I’m in good hands.”
A competitor’s ad catches their eye. A friend mentions someone new. By the time you notice, they’re already gone, or halfway out the door. Here’s what makes this so dangerous: 68% of customers who leave a business do so because of perceived indifference. Not price. Not a competitor’s offer. Not even a bad experience. They simply felt ignored. They felt like you no longer cared. That’s the number one reason people walk away, and it’s entirely within your control. The quiet middle is where most client relationships die, and it’s also where consistent presence pays the biggest dividends. This is why a monthly newsletter works so well. It’s not a sales pitch. It’s a presence. It shows up in their mailbox with something that benefits your reader, something human, something that says, “We’re still here. We’re still thinking about you.” And here’s the key: The best newsletters give far more than they ask. Gary Vaynerchuk calls it “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.” You earn the right to ask for something by providing value first. Not once. Multiple times. The old rule of thumb is 80% value, 20% promotion. Today, you need to deliver value 90% of the time and make direct asks only 10% of the time. If you show up every time with a sales pitch, people tune out. But if you consistently show up with something useful, a story, an insight, a tip they can actually use, you build what psychologists call reciprocity. They feel like they owe you something. Not because you demanded it, but because you earned it. You can’t personally call every client every month. You can’t show up at their door. Which is why the newsletter gives you leverage.
This moment is so powerful that I know of companies that manufacture minor problems so they can solve them beautifully. They intentionally create a minor hiccup — a “mistake” in an order, a small delay — then swoop in with an over-the-top resolution. The customer walks away thinking they’re dealing with a company that truly cares. It’s engineered trust. And it works. When I searched for more specific data on value-first content and customer trust/engagement, I found excellent data. Here’s what I discovered. The Quiet Middle This is the silent killer of client relationships. Nothing is actively wrong. There’s no crisis, no urgent need, no reason for them to reach out. And because you’re busy chasing new business or putting out fires elsewhere, you go quiet, too. Weeks pass. Then months. And slowly, almost invisibly, the relationship cools. They forget what it felt like to work with you.
When trust is high, when they’re most open to hearing about what else you can help with, and most likely to tell a friend.
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A newsletter enables you to reach every customer and prospect at least once a month. And the time a client spends reading that newsletter, be it five minutes, 10 minutes, or more, is time they’re spending with you, even when there’s no transaction happening. That’s relationship equity. It compounds. And when they do need you again, or when a friend asks for a recommendation, you’re not a distant memory. You’re the obvious answer. The Repeat Customer When a past client needs you again, you’re not starting from zero. They already trust you. They already know your process. The friction that exists with a new prospect is almost entirely gone. However, research reveals that it takes 3–5 purchases before a customer truly becomes loyal. A recent study found that 88% of customers say it takes at least three purchases before they consider themselves loyal to a brand. And once they cross that threshold? They spend dramatically more. Repeat customers spend 67% more by their third year than they did in their first year. Your top 10% of loyal customers spend three times more per order than the average customer. Your top 1%? Five times more. That’s why every repeat purchase isn’t just revenue. It’s a step toward locking in a client for life.
And here’s the part most businesses miss: A repeat customer who has been hearing from you consistently through a newsletter, ongoing touchpoints, and authentic relationship building doesn’t just come back. They come back ready to buy. I saw this firsthand with a law firm we worked with. Twelve months after starting a monthly newsletter, their referred new clients increased by 113%. Repeat clients who returned for additional legal assistance increased by 18% compared to the previous year. And the average value of those long-term clients, people who’d been with the firm more than a year, was up 28.69% in billable hours. But here’s the part that surprised even them: Clients started accepting their recommendations with less pushback. Less hassle and pushback. “The attorneys attributed it to one thing: the relationship the clients felt they already had. They’d been reading the newsletter for months. By the time they needed legal help again, they no longer felt like they were hiring a law firm. They felt like they were calling someone they knew and trusted. That’s what consistent presence does. It turns transactions into relationships. And relationships into trust, and trust is more valuable in today’s economy than ever before, because it’s become so rare. When everyone’s skeptical, the business that earns genuine trust wins by default.
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What’s Your Next Move? Everything we’ve talked about, first win, first problem, quiet middle, repeat customer adds up to one thing: profit.
If you’re wondering how this would work in your specific business, my team can help you map it out. No obligation, no pressure. Just a conversation about where your hinge moments are and what a real relationship system could look like for your clients. If you know me personally, even a little, you know I’m always happy to help. Reach out and let us help.
Not just a bit more profit, but substantially more profits.
Look at how the math compounds: Repeat customers are less costly to serve; they spend more over time, they refer others, and they’re less price-sensitive. It is literally the secret to higher profits, happier employees, less stress for you, and an overall significantly better quality of life as an entrepreneur. And if you ever plan to sell your business, the impact is even more dramatic. Companies with strong customer retention and recurring relationships typically command valuation multiples that are 2–3 times higher than those of businesses built on one-time transactions or characterized by high customer churn. To stay competitive in today’s landscape, you need to show up in the moments that matter and build the kind of trust that compounds over time.
–Shaun Scan the QR code to make an appointment, or feel free to call 208-297-5700 , and we can put you in touch with someone or help set up a time to strategize what’s going to be best for your business in 2026.
HAVE A LAUGH!
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