"The Power Of Retention Is As Exponential As The Power Of Growth."

While I did pull this quote out of thin air, "The power of retention is as exponential as the power of growth" has defined my career. It stems from my attain, retain, and attain again (ARA) strategy. Back in 2005, during a conversation with Seidler Equity Partners, I coined the ARA phrase while explaining how Windy City Wire achieved eleven consecutive years of EBITDA growth (now going on 31 years!). This philosophy became the cornerstone of how we operated—shaping both our business strategy and our culture.

Retention: The Secret to Compounding Success

So, what does the quote mean? Retaining customers is just as impactful—if not more so—than acquiring new ones when it comes to driving long-term success. Growth gets most of the attention because it’s about expansion, new business, and big wins. But retention creates a compounding effect, building stability and amplifying results over time.

When customers stick with you, they’re not just repeat buyers—they can become advocates, potentially bringing referrals and helping to reduce acquisition costs. Their lifetime value often increases, trust has the potential to deepen, and your business can scale more efficiently. Like growth, retention can create a snowball effect that drives loyalty and momentum. It’s not an either/or—retention and growth together have the power to fuel significant success.

Predictability and Partnerships: The Backbone of Retention

As our business grew, so did my understanding of what truly mattered. I became fixated on building strong, reliable partnerships. Overkill wasn’t just an option—it was a necessity. Mediocrity had no place in our operations. Whether it was suppliers, freight companies, or service providers, we chose quality over shortcuts. Sure, we sacrificed margins at times by avoiding cheaper, lower-quality options. But I saw the bigger picture: the fewer fires we had to put out, the more time we had to focus on growth.

That’s where the retain piece of the ARA strategy ties in. Retention isn’t just about keeping customers—it’s about creating predictability in your operations. When your service is steady, efficient, and proactive, you are able to avoid problems before they happen. This allows your team to focus on building and growing the business instead of constantly putting out fires.

Minimizing Distractions to Maximize Growth

Of course, isolated incidents can demand your attention. That’s business. But when these incidents stop being isolated and start becoming patterns, they’re likely symptoms of something much bigger. If you don’t address the root of these systemic issues, the same problems are likely to persist, potentially draining your resources and slowing growth. Businesses often struggle to grow because they may overlook, misidentify, or fail to address the constraints that quietly contribute to customer loss over time.

Understanding this, we aimed to build a culture where systemic problems had no place. The way I see it, if you’re constantly in “fix-it” mode, it can reduce your capacity to focus on building something bigger. That’s why our model focuses on minimizing distractions so we can concentrate on attaining new customers—not begging our current ones to stay.

And after three decades of year-over-year EBITDA growth, I’d put that model up against anyone’s.