Client Lifetime Value
Client lifetime value is the total amount a client is likely to spend with you across every job over the whole relationship, not just the one in front of you. It’s why a smaller first job from a good client is often worth more than it looks.
What it means
A single job has a price, but a client has a value that’s usually bigger than that one number — the maintenance visits, the referral to a neighbor, the bigger renovation two years later. Thinking only in terms of the job in front of you can make a modest first job look like it’s not worth prioritizing, when the relationship behind it is worth far more over time.
You don’t need a spreadsheet formula to use this — the practical version is just: treat a first-time client’s small, ordinary job with the same care you’d give a big one, because a good first experience is what makes the second and third job, and the referral that comes with them, show up at all.
A client’s first job with you is a $180 repair. Over the next three years, they book you for two more repairs, a $2,200 renovation, and refer a neighbor who becomes a $4,000 client. The $180 job’s real value was never $180.
Deprioritizing small first-time jobs because the number on that one invoice looks unimpressive — while the same client’s actual lifetime value, including referrals, ends up being one of your biggest.
See also
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- guide What to do after the job — the follow-up that wins the next one One fixed routine covers the thank-you, the review ask, and the referral ask below.
- tool Client follow-up planner Put in the date a job finished and get the six follow-ups that win the next one — thank-you, review ask, one nudge, referral, check-in, win-back — as real dates you can copy or drop straight into your calendar.
- tool Job profit check Type in the price you charged, your direct costs, and the hours the job actually took — on site, travel, quoting and admin — and see the real hourly rate it paid against your own target.