Consultants and coaches like to talk about the lifetime value of a customer. Bluntly speaking, lifetime value of a customer is a measurement of how much money I can get from my "relationship" with the customer. I put relationship in quotes because I have a hard time believing you can create a true relationship when maximizing lifetime value is your primary motivator.
This language also bothers me because it leads to discussions of such things as the "cost to acquire" a customer. It makes me wonder if I can purchase customer through Amazon and, if so, how many I need to purchase to qualify for free shipping.
What if we measured and tracked the lifetime value of a consultant? How would that change your practice? How would things be different if you had regular internal conversations about these questions:
- How much value do you bring to your customer's business\life?
- How does that value change over time? Do you bring a lot of value initially only to have it taper off as the relationship matures?
- What is the minimum value a customer should expect from their relationship with you
Are any of you already tracking something like this? If so, I'd love to hear from you.
