Why 97% of Our Business Comes from Referrals—And How We Keep Clients Coming Back

During a recent new business meeting, we heard a too-often-repeated story. When the relationship started, they were wowed by their current agency. But soon after contracts were signed and work was underway, that original A-team was slowly replaced by the B-team: professionals who lacked the experience and excitement of the original squad. 

And now, they’re ready to fire that agency. Good for us. But unfortunate for that other agency, who likely was never aware of their customer service and work shortcomings, much less, how to turn things around.

There are no salespeople at Prismatic (a founding cultural staple of our agency). You will never work through an account executive. New business is quietly earned and retained one client at a time through our rare service model that integrates award-winning creative leaders at the helm of every project journey.

We work hard with the goal of performing as a steadfast, reliable extension of our clients’ teams. In turn, our clients become our virtual sales force, referring Prismatic to others with the success of their own project as the calling card.

When reflecting across more than two decades of our own journey, one thing immediately stands out: our fascinating, connected web of local, regional, and national clients that span numerous industries. When we trace the web, we’re proud that approximately 97% of our clients have been earned through referrals. 

There are innumerable talented agencies out there. What separates Prismatic is the journey. Talent is nothing without raving, referral-generating service. And it hinges on a connected relationship journey as well as the zealous pursuit of striving to always get stronger and better at what we do and how we do it. 

Historically, referrals or repeat business was our metric for tracking the impact of our service and the client journey. As the competitive environment intensified and our team expanded, we faced the challenge of preserving our inherent customer service culture and realized we needed to step up our game. And in true Prismatic fashion, have fun with it! So we endeavored to elevate our project journey while deploying a more sophisticated approach to tracking and amplifying its impact. Simultaneously, we sought to combat falling into the trap of out of sight, out of mind after a project’s completion and its day-to-day communications have drawn to a close.

Why are we sharing this? Because we believe this has a far-reaching application for nearly all businesses and we hope to inspire you to think about how you can harness the power of clients who have become raving fans and generate sustainable, meaningful success. And we’d love to help curate a custom approach for you.

Our solution? Create a holistic, insights-driven client engagement initiative that intuitively connects with our clients to assess their experience throughout the life of their project (and even beyond). And make it FUN!

How does it work? Our client engagement initiative is multifaceted (the very definition of Prismatic). It involves an organized system of actions backed by a strategic cadence that begins the moment a new relationship sparks. Key moments that trigger our actions include:

• Proposal acceptance: At that earliest moment, we aim to learn why you chose us, gaining perspective into your decision-making process and how we measured up through questions such as:
  • What prompted you to invite Prismatic to submit a proposal for your project?
  • How well did we do in tailoring our proposal to your needs?
  • To what extent did each of the following impact your decision to move forward with Prismatic?
  • At this moment, we also celebrate our new relationship by sending them a package of surprises and delights to express our joy in being their partner on this journey ahead.

• 30 days into a new project or account relationship:
  • How do you feel about the work we’re producing for you?
  • How do you feel about communications and interactions with our team?
  • How do you feel about our responsiveness?
    
• 60/90 days into a new project or account relationship (if the project lasts longer than 30 days):
  • Same as the 30-day survey above

• After a project is complete or at a mutually determined moment with the account leader:

• • Same questions as the 30-day survey in addition to…
  • How do you feel about the quality of the work we’re producing? 
  • How do you feel about the value of the work we’re producing? 
  • How do you feel about our interactions?
  • What communication channels do we commonly use with you right now?
  • How do you feel about the channels we use to interact? 
  • How do you feel about the frequency of our interactions? 
  • How do you feel about the tone of our interactions? 
  • how do you feel about our ability to respond to your needs?
  • How do you feel about how quickly we respond to your needs?
  • How well do you feel we understand your organization and the goal of your project?
  • Are there any additional suggestions for improvement that you’d like to share?
  • And is there anything you love about Prismatic?
• Project/account anniversary: This is purely an opportunity for us to share surprises and delights to ignite joy in fun ways. We have a line of merch we’ve created for this express purpose.
• Good news: We love to stalk our clients on social media and in the news and celebrate with them. Just give us an excuse to send some fun your way!

Just because: While we’re digital marketing and social media champions, the fact remains that the lost art form of a personal note or card reigns supreme. So when the spirit moves us, we all have access to our Cheers All Year card line and notecards and use them to send a little sunshine to our clients, partners, and supporters.

Beyond the wins of gaining new client trust and relationships, we’re also sending out surveys when we do not win that project or account. How will we become the best version of ourselves without knowing when we fall short? And for the prospective clients who take the time to complete those surveys, we are supremely grateful because it takes the investment of a few minutes towards someone you’re not even working with to share your feedback. 

And for the most important aspect of our client engagement initiative…

Who is powering this initiative? All of us. Every person at Prismatic plays a vital role in empowering this initiative. And that is by design. By having an active role in this, we’re constantly coaching and reinforcing our culture of customer service and the legacy we have as an agency that exists because of our clients and their referrals. The conductor responsible for overseeing its implementation is Cayenne Bennett. As Director of Relationships, she represents two sides of a Prismatic coin: human relationships (A.K.A. Human Resources everywhere else) and client relationships. We planned and contemplated this initiative for three years before we were able to get it off the ground. By having someone dedicated to its deliberate deployment—and whose passion is people—we’ve made it happen.

How is our whole team engaged in powering this? Whether it’s sending a card, packaging up a gift pack, or following clients on social media to help identify good news worth celebrating—it takes all of us. Our entire team has an active role in realizing the potential of this initiative we’ve designed and then reacting to the feedback loop we receive as a result. 

How are we using the results we receive from the initiative’s surveys? What’s the point in a project running its full course only to learn that if we had just utilized more phone calls in place of emails, or meetings in place of phone calls, we could have wowed that client? Every time a survey is completed, leadership is notified and Cayenne sets up a meeting with the account contributors to review the feedback – particularly the constructive feedback we receive when it’s not all “thrilled.” We collaborate to identify opportunities for strengthening our processes and work, and new solutions that could make an immediate impact. Using the 30-day pulse survey is magic. It enables us to understand areas where we may need to improve rapidly, to ensure the client’s journey is the best it can be. It is the best line of defense against potential missteps and it enables us to calibrate what we are doing in meaningful ways to the individual we are working with. 

Is it worth the energy and investment? Hell yes. 

Why? When asked whether customers would recommend Prismatic to others, 100% of our clients responded yes. And you better believe we share that in every one of our new business proposals.