Episode 76 - Do You Want to Be a Retention Mastermind?

Welcome to episode 76 of the Retention Blueprint!

I am so grateful to have you here. 

Despite what to some would feel like an epic career…. 

• Senior Vice President of the biggest retention team in Europe 

• Head of CRM at the world's biggest football club 

• Retention consulting to brands like Coca-Cola, J&J, Sony, Mastercard…

…in January 2024, when I set up Retention Coach, I had 

• 0 leads 

• 0 clients 

• 0 revenue

• A small LinkedIn following 

But I had a deep desire to build something I loved, avoid corporate politics altogether and be the master of my time. 

Fast forward to the end of 2025.

I won 5 brilliant client projects, and I've been fully booked all year. 

It's been great to grow my business idea into something real and substantial.

And, I have learnt a TON! 

• There is a big market of big brands that need my help. 

• Small apps and brands can't afford to work with me. 

• My newsletter is popular (88% rate it GREAT!). 

• My CRM Marketing 2.0 course is good!

• My podcast needs a rethink/relaunch.

So what does this mean as we head into 2026? 

1. I am doubling down on this Newsletter - expect big things in 2026

• High-quality guest authors

• 2026 Retention Benchmark Report 

• Library of 100+ Retention case studies free to subscribers 

• Even more actionable insights & frameworks

• All exclusively FREE to my early adopter Newsletter subscribers (AKA YOU!) 

As we head into December, there will be fewer newsletter episodes, as I take time to build. But come January, I’ll be back to weekly episodes.

2. I am relaunching my podcast in 2026. Watch this space. 

3. My mission remains the same. 

• It's direct to client retention consulting

• Solopreneur all the way, I am not building an agency.

• My mission remains: to help retention leaders be more successful in their careers and, therefore, their lives. 

To aid my mission, I am considering launching a Retention Mastermind. 

What is a Mastermind? A Mastermind is a small group of leaders focused on a common challenge who meet regularly to share experiences and learn from one another.

In this case, of course, it will include Senior, Retention, CX, or other business leaders or consultants focused on maximising retention-led growth. 

Initial thinking is that the Mastermind will include: 

• Monthly retention deep dive calls with guest Retention Leaders at the world's biggest brands, sharing what they have done to scale retention-led growth, with leaders from Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Duolingo, Nike and more.   

• Talks from world-renowned business and academic retention leaders in the realms of customer experience, CRM, Marketing and Customer Lifetime Value. 

• Access to my video-on-demand Retention Mastermind training program covering topics such as how to optimise retention by focusing on moments of truth, how to accurately calculate customer lifetime value (according to Forrester, 80% do it wrong), onboarding, cancellation journeys, engagement strategies, cross-vertical learnings and more. 

• Monthly deep dive calls & live QA examining different aspects of the Mastermind training program. 

• Weekly challenge calls, where we dive deep into a specific problem one member is facing and open the floor to resolve it 

• Community - post and comment, and feedback in a safe space

• Annual networking dinner in London or New York. 

• Access to monthly 1-1s and always on WhatsApp with me to help unlock your retention challenges. 

• Bundled access to my popular CRM Marketing 2.0 strategy course and upcoming AI for CRM Marketing course.

However, I am not 100% set on building the Mastermind yet, unless I have enough interest. 

Therefore, can I ask a favour?  Please can you take 5 minutes to complete this 6-question survey and share honest feedback on this concept.

There are $100 Amazon vouchers up for grabs for one participant, just in time for holiday shopping.

Thank you for the support.

If you don’t have time for the survey, but are keen to join the waiting list anyway, click below and scroll to about half way down the page to the section in red.

BTW, don’t forget to check out the archive for hundreds of case studies and frameworks for retention-led growth.

Until next week,

Tom