Most times, when we discuss the nurturing of Best Customers, we focus on expanding relationships and share of wallet. After all, when we are successful, we can see clear increases in revenue and profit.

But a recent post on the SurveyMethods blog suggests that we might be better served by focusing on saving customers at risk of defection. Building a predictive model to identify customers who are likely to defect allows you to take action to correct that behavior.

The post raises an interesting question - is there a higher ROI to save defecting customers than to grow current ones? Given limited resources, it is unlikely that you will be able to give the same priority to both.

My experience has been that it is more profitable, at least in the short run, to grow customer relationships with engaged customers than it is to rescue customers on the way out. Building a house on a solid foundation is easier (and faster) than having to repair the foundation first.

Quicker results lead to excitement in the company, and additional resources. Which in turn feeds more success and so on.

What has been your experience?