Hey Friends,
Holidays are all about relaxing and recharging - if you do that on the stunning beaches of Roccella Jonica (RC), you’re hitting the jackpot.
Every August, I find myself drawn back to Roccella for a month of sun, sea, and a little time to reflect.
While the kids enjoy the long days at the beach, I get some precious moments to read, think, and truly recharge.
Lately, I’ve been focused on how to help my clients succeed in the coming year.
With so much uncertainty, what should we, as founders, do to thrive?
As some of you know, I’ve spent four years managing existing clients, renewals, and upsells.
I believe - no, I know - that your existing clients are the key to sustaining ARR growth and financial health.
I might even call it an obsession, something I remind my clients of every day.
A common theme in reports, articles, and LinkedIn posts is clear: growing your existing client base is far easier - and less costly - than acquiring new ones.
It’s as simple as that.
So, if I were an early-stage founder primarily focused on landing new clients, here’s what I would do right now:
Start planning now to grow your existing business by 20% next year.
Build a pipeline that tracks every stage of your client relationship, from onboarding to renewals, churn, upsell, wins, and losses.
Assign someone on your sales team to focus on renewals and upselling.
If your Account Executives handle upsells, just remember they’ll likely spend less time chasing new clients.
Focus on these key performance indicators:
Renewals are crucial. If your renewal process is sales-led, your goal should be to initiate renewal conversations as early as possible - ideally, 90 days before the renewal date.
Contrary to popular belief, don’t ‘hide’ the renewal time like gyms often do with subscriptions.
Engage your customers early with meaningful, commercial discussions.
Churn is the enemy. You want to keep it below 5% of your annual baseline.
The key here is to engage - talk to unhappy customers, those who haven’t been onboarded correctly, or those with support issues.
Take care of them before they consider leaving.
Now for the exciting part - growing your existing client base.
If you’re sitting on $1M in ARR, you can likely add another $200K next year by selling more to your current clients.
Think about:
Treat upsells like new business deals: outreach, discovery, proposal, and close.
Even though you know the decision-makers and they’re already using your product, there are no shortcuts.
From the paradise of Roccella Jonica, I’ve read countless reports pointing to the same conclusion: growing your existing business is crucial in the years ahead.
Start planning to renew 95% of your clients and upsell by 20%.
Trust me, you won’t regret it.
Start today. Your future self will thank you.
