While many companies establish new business promotions, few devote an equal amount of energy teaching employees techniques to do a better job of retaining customers.

Try this: Go back to your customer rank report from 1996, just ten years ago, and take a look at your top ten customers. How much does this top ten list differ from your top ten list in 2006? Odds are, few of these high volume customers are still on your top ten list, or for that matter, still doing business with your company. What happened to those that left? Where are they doing business now? If they left you for a competitor, do you know precisely why?

Here are 15 ideas for improving your customer retention rate: