Customer lifetime value (CLV) is important in the AEC industry because it helps pinpoint which clients should get attention for retention, marketing spend, and personalized offers.
The one thing that has to be added to the CLV formula for the AEC industry is referrals.
Yes, I'm going to be sure to keep the clients that refer new clients to me.
They are helping me grow my business while keeping my costs down.
This is also a call-to-action that a referral program at your company will remind your best clients that you appreciate them putting your name out there as well as help you track those referrals across the business.
Calculating customer lifetime value in the AEC industry doesn't really fit with the traditional formula for customer lifetime value.
If you were to Google what is the formula for customer lifetime value, it's gonna tell you it's the average annual project value times the repeat rate, multiply that number by the relationship lifespan, and that's really your customer lifetime value in a traditional sense.
What I'm encouraging AEC professionals to do is to add in the referral value. So if you have a client that, let's say on average, you get a project from them that is $200,000 per year and they're a great client, but they're not doing any referrals. If you get another client and say your annual project revenue from them is a hundred thousand dollars, but they on average make three referrals for you, and those referrals are turning into additional clients with additional revenue.
That second client, that one that's only doing a hundred thousand dollars a year, but has referrals. That one's actually a greater value to your business. I would encourage you to look at that second client, that one that is actually generating referrals for you, and look at them as a higher value client than the one client that may only be doing $200,000 a year, but not doing a referral. That's actually gonna allow you to grow your business faster through a referral program versus trying to do one-offs or even having to go out and find new clients on your own.
Leaning on those clients that are easily referral machines are going to help generate revenue a lot faster.
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