I recently spoke to a CEO who confided that they didn’t want to understand their customer churn risk, because knowing the scale of the problem meant he would have to do something about it – and that would be a “distraction” to the day to day which was already filled with countless ‘projects’ designed to drive sales.
It was a fascinating glimpse into the boardroom of a hospitality business in 2026.
I DON’T NEED NO GOOD ADVICE
When people are saddled with debt, the advice often given is to open the envelopes and listen to the voicemails, because only by acknowledging the reality, can you make a plan to move forward.
When someone wants to lose a lot of weight, it might be considered good advice to step on some scales, or keep a diary of food consumed and exercise taken, to understand where you are. Because only then can you or an expert find the most appropriate route to your goal.
In neither case, would the advice be, ‘just keep ignoring that pal, it will go away’ – and neither would I advise that you can keep short-term trading out of a serious customer churn problem.
So why should you care? After all, your house or health isn’t at risk?
Well, because as the market corrects over these coming months, and we see even more cash strapped Brits tightening their belts and reducing their repertoires, your ability to rely on your core customer base could be vital. And if you’re losing 3x more customers to churn (these are people who spent money with you last year but have now become £0 value) than you are acquiring new ones, you have a time bomb just waiting to go off.
THE SIZE OF THE PRIZE
But, by getting clarity on the depth of your ‘problem’, you also get clarity on the size of your opportunity, because it IS possible to turn churn into retention, when approached correctly.
And judging by some of the clients we’ve given that clarity to over the last few months, the high-margin revenue result of leaning in and seeing the issue up close means you have to do much less of that relentless day to day anyway. If you’re not a person who finds comfort in staying stuck in the grind, that will be music to your ears.
I’ll be releasing a webinar in the coming weeks, showing how we spotted a £11m black hole for one client, and how we’ve started to fill it, so stay tuned. If you’d like to get ahead of the pack, drop me a line.
