Chinaberry’s winning combination: soft on the outside, savvy on the inside

By Reported Donna Loyle

5. Know the difference between housefile growth and profits. “They are not linked,” Ed Ruethling says emphatically. “Growing your housefile is OK for perhaps a year, but those extra customers better equal increased profits next year, or you could be in trouble.”

In short: Know your attrition rate—and assume it will be 50 percent a year, he notes. Concentrate on improving your customer lifetime value.