Current Research Bulletin

Client retention is the economic backbone of marketing consulting, yet many agencies manage renewal risk with lagging signals: revenue drops, last‑minute scope disputes, and post‑mortems after a contract is lost. This article develops a practical, evidence‑grounded KPI system that links relationship health to renewal outcomes through three measurable pathways: trust, outcomes, and renewal readiness. Building on established service quality and relationship marketing research, we synthesize empirical findings from professional service and agency–client studies and integrate recent industry benchmarks used in customer success programs. The result is a compact measurement architecture that separates leading indicators (delivery hygiene and communication) from mediating indicators (trust and value realization) and lagging indicators (renewal and expansion). Because primary fieldwork was not conducted for this project, we provide an empirical illustration using a simulated portfolio dataset calibrated to ranges reported in prior studies and benchmark reports. In this worked example, a combined Trust Index and Outcomes Index predicts renewal with moderate discrimination (AUC ≈ 0.72), and a simple renewal readiness rule flags low‑probability accounts early enough for corrective action. The contribution is a method for translating academic constructs into operational KPIs that consulting teams can implement without heavy analytics infrastructure, while preserving interpretability for client‑facing governance. To translate the proposed KPI architecture into an actionable consulting framework, this study introduces the TOR-Bridge Model (Trust–Outcomes–Renewal Bridge). The model conceptualizes client retention not as a passive consequence of satisfactory service delivery, but as an actively governed process in which trust signals, outcome realization, and renewal readiness are continuously connected through a shared measurement logic. In practical terms, the model functions as a bridge between relationship health and commercial continuity, allowing consulting teams to identify renewal risk before it becomes visible in revenue loss or contract termination.

client retention, marketing consulting, trust, service quality, value realization, renewal, KPIs

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