Customer Retention Audit

A 25-statement diagnostic scorecard that shows where your business is losing customers, scores your retention out of 100 and turns the weakest areas into a 90-day action plan.

How to use this tool. This scorecard is for owners and managers of B2B businesses who want to know honestly how well they keep the customers they have already won. Allow 45 to 60 minutes in one sitting. You will finish with a score out of 100, your two weakest areas and a 90-day action plan with owners and dates.

Why it matters

Winning a new customer usually costs more time, money and goodwill than keeping an existing one. Most owners know this, yet retention rarely gets the same attention as sales. It is quiet work: no one celebrates the customer who stayed.

Customers rarely leave over one dramatic failure. They drift: a slow reply, a missed follow-up, a price rise with no explanation, a competitor who simply turned up. Each is small and fixable, but only if you can see where your business is exposed. This audit shows you.

The method

Set your baseline. Record the simple numbers below. Use your accounting system, CRM or a spreadsheet. Estimates are fine if you label them as estimates.
Score 25 statements. Be honest and score what happens in practice, not what you intend. If you are unsure, score the lower number.
Total each area and convert to a percentage. This shows where to focus.
Pick two areas only. Fixing everything at once means fixing nothing.
Build the 90-day plan. Every action gets an owner, a date and a measure.

Baseline numbers

Measure	Your figure	Note on how you worked it out
Active customers at the start of the last 12 months
Of those, how many still buy from you today
Retention rate (customers kept divided by customers at start)
Revenue from your top 10 customers as a share of total
Customers lost in the last 12 months whose reason you can name

The scoring scale

Use this scale for every statement.

Score	Meaning
0	Not in place, or never happens
1	Happens rarely or by accident
2	Happens sometimes, depends on who is available
3	Usually happens and is mostly written down
4	Always happens, is documented and is reviewed regularly

The scorecard

Area 1: Know your customers

#	Statement	Score (0 to 4)
1	We keep a current list of every active customer with contact names and what they buy.
2	We know which customers generate the most profit, not just the most revenue.
3	We have grouped customers into segments (for example key, regular, occasional) and treat each differently.
4	We know why our best customers chose us and say so in their words.
5	Customer information is stored securely and only collected and used in line with the Privacy Act.
	Area 1 total (out of 20)

Area 2: Onboarding and delivery

#	Statement	Score (0 to 4)
6	New customers get a clear explanation of what happens next, who to call and when.
7	We contact every new customer shortly after the first job or delivery to check it went well.
8	We deliver what we promised, on time, at least nine times out of ten.
9	When we are going to be late or over budget, we tell the customer before they ask.
10	Our handover between sales and delivery is documented so nothing promised is lost.

	Area 2 total (out of 20)

Area 3: Staying in touch

#	Statement	Score (0 to 4)
11	Every key customer has a named person in our business responsible for the relationship.
12	We contact each key customer at least quarterly when we are not trying to sell something.
13	We share useful information with customers (updates, tips, changes that affect them).
14	Our email and SMS marketing is sent only with consent, names our business and has a working unsubscribe, as the Spam Act 2003 requires.
15	We ask for structured feedback at least twice a year and act on it.

	Area 3 total (out of 20)

Area 4: Spotting risk and fixing problems

#	Statement	Score (0 to 4)
16	We would notice within a month if a regular customer's orders dropped or stopped.
17	Complaints are recorded in one place, with an owner and a response time.
18	A complaint is acknowledged within one business day.
19	We phone lapsed customers to learn why they left and record the answer.
20	We review lost customers and complaints together at least quarterly and change something as a result.

	Area 4 total (out of 20)

Area 5: Growing existing accounts

#	Statement	Score (0 to 4)
21	We know what else our existing customers could buy from us and have offered it.
22	Contracts, licences, service plans or renewals are tracked with reminders well ahead of expiry.
23	We ask satisfied customers for referrals or reviews in a planned way.
24	Price changes are explained to customers in advance, with the reason and the value they receive.
25	We reward or recognise loyal customers in some practical way.

	Area 5 total (out of 20)

Your results

Step 1: Transfer your area totals

Area	Total (out of 20)	Percentage (total multiplied by 5)	Rank (1 is weakest)
1. Know your customers
2. Onboarding and delivery
3. Staying in touch
4. Spotting risk and fixing problems
5. Growing existing accounts
Overall total (out of 100)

Because there are 25 statements with a maximum of 4 points each, your overall total out of 100 is also your percentage.

Step 2: Read your band

Overall score	Band	What it means	Priority
0 to 39	Leaking	Customers are leaving and you probably do not know why. Retention depends on luck and individual effort.	Fix the basics first: customer list, a named owner for each key customer and a complaints log.
40 to 59	Reactive	You respond well when asked but rarely act first. Some customers are at risk without your knowing.	Build early warning (Area 4) and regular contact (Area 3).
60 to 79	Solid	The core is sound. Gaps are in consistency and in growing accounts.	Document what works and add renewal tracking and referral habits.
80 to 100	Strong	Retention is a managed system.	Protect it with quarterly reviews and look for growth within accounts.

An overall score can hide a weak area. Any single area below 50% (under 10 out of 20) is a priority regardless of your total.

Worked example

Example only. Banksia Mechanical Services is a fictional Perth business that maintains air conditioning for commercial buildings.

The owner scored the five areas as 14, 8, 11, 7 and 9, a total of 49. That is the Reactive band. Her baseline showed that of 60 customers a year earlier, 48 were still active, and she could name the reason for only two of the twelve she lost.

The two weakest areas were Area 4 (35%) and Area 2 (40%). She decided on three actions:

Start a one-page complaints and lost-customer log, owned by the office manager.
Run a monthly check of customers who have not booked a service in their usual cycle.
Phone every new customer within a week of the first service.

She also assigned a named relationship owner to her top ten customers. She did not touch Area 5 until day 90.

What good looks like

You can name why customers leave, from their own mouths.
Every key customer has a named owner and a next contact date.
A drop in a customer's activity triggers a call within weeks, not at year end.
Your score is rechecked every quarter and moves up in your two focus areas.

Common mistakes

Scoring your intentions. If it does not happen reliably, it is a 2 or lower.
Doing the audit alone. Ask your office manager or a senior team member to score independently, then compare. Differences are valuable.
Trying to fix all five areas. Choose two.
Assigning actions to "the team". An action without a single named owner and a date will not happen.
Treating a check-in as a sales pitch. Customers notice. Keep some contact purely useful.
Skipping consent. Check that email and SMS contact complies with the Spam Act 2003 before you increase it.

Your 90-day action plan

Choose actions that address your two lowest areas. Aim for no more than six in total.

Phase	Action	Area	Owner	Due date	Measure of success
Days 1 to 30
Days 1 to 30
Days 31 to 60
Days 31 to 60
Days 61 to 90
Days 61 to 90

Rescore the audit on day 90 and compare with today
Book a 30-minute retention review in your diary every quarter

Put it to work this week

Complete the baseline numbers and score all 25 statements in one sitting, then ask one team member to score independently.
Identify your two lowest areas and write down the single biggest gap in each.
Name a relationship owner for each of your top ten customers and book their next contact.
Start a simple complaints and lost-customer log in a spreadsheet and record the last three cases you can remember.
Fill in the 90-day action table and put the first due date in your diary.

Where Lotus helps

Lotus Strategic Services works with Australian B2B owners to turn audits like this into practical retention systems: customer segmentation, early-warning reporting and account plans that fit a small team. We can review your scorecard with you and help you decide where the next 90 days are best spent. Book a free 30-minute discovery call at lotusstrategic.com.au.