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Before you put yourself under pressure to come up with something ‘new’ based on a notion that your clients or customers might tire of the products or services you provide, take a moment to check that ‘new’ is, in fact, what they want. For many clients, ‘new’ isn’t necessarily the main driver. Continued ‘relevance’ is. Often, what’s more important is not that they’ve tried, or heard, or used something before, but that it remains relevant, and valuable, to them.

Developing new products and services should definitely be explored. Doing so might even be necessary to keep you refreshed and enthusiastic if you’re becoming tired with what you provide, but whilst you’re trying to think up ‘new’ ways of doing things, think too about how you can re-frame, re-package and re-communicate what you already provide so that it remains relevant and valuable to your clients and customers. It’s a reputation-winning strategy.

Your core offerings probably won’t change. Nor will the benefits, or uses, of whatever you provide. What will change is how you frame your offering to demonstrate their continued relevance to your clients right now. Think creatively and remind yourself, and your clients, of what’s great about your offering by linking it to current trends and positioning it as a ‘must have now’. Consider:

• Format and engagement options. Could you interact with your customers in a wider variety of ways, including online, offline and in person?
   
• Payment and delivery options. Could the options you provide be expanded and made more convenient for your customers without adding significantly to your costs or current processes?
   
• Reinforcing relevance against current trends. Could you highlight new research findings and current trends that support your case for continued use of your products and services and reinforce you as a preferred provider?

Given that it’s 6-7 times more expensive to acquire one new client than it is to keep one, it makes sense to retain as many existing clients and customers as possible by reframing the value and relevance of the benefits you provide. Doing so can increase your profitability exponentially.