Keep feeding the Golden Goose
Sales is hard. Finding new prospects, identifying their key pain points, building sufficient trust in you and the products and/or services you’re selling and ultimately convincing them to part with their money, is an arduous and unforgiving process that goes wrong more times than it goes right.
What if there was a way to load the dice in your favour? Well, there is – sell to your existing customers! Statistically, Harvard Business Review estimate it costs (time & effort) five to 25 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain (or sell) to an existing one. According to Bain, increasing retention by 5% can increase profits by up to 95%.
This week’s Three Things is all about ensuring that you look after those Golden Geese and how exceptional service can be your best sales tool and the key to customer retention. Enjoy!
#1. Do a good job (constantly)
In professional services, NOTHING sells better than a consistently high quality of service. In our experience, the below phrase goes a long way and puts you in a small minority of practitioners.
DWYSYGTDWYSYGTDI
Do What You Say You’re Going To Do, When You Say You’re Going To Do It!
Doing a good job, repeatedly, builds the reliability component of David Maister’s Trust Equation. When discussing additional sales or sales within a new area, you can then use (or more accurately borrow) this trust that has been built to provide additional credibility (another facet of the Trust Equation) to strengthen your sales proposition.
#2. Make them feel special
Everyone likes feeling special and important. Customers are no different. Work hard to make your customers feel like they are your only customer. Here’s three ways we’ve found works for us:
- Anticipate what the need before they know they need it: great service isn’t just about responding to what a customer asks for – it’s about predicting what they’ll need next. Whether it’s a heads-up on upcoming regulatory changes or an offer to streamline a process before it becomes a headache, anticipating needs shows clients you’re always thinking ahead on their behalf.
- The personal touch: if there’s a market event, press story, political announcement etc that affects your customer, ring them to see what impact(s) it’s had. Failing that, send them a note to alert them to the topic. At the very least, it will signpost you are thinking about them.
- Regular non-work contact: make it a habit to check in on your key customers (current and lapsed) at least monthly. Phone calls are always better than email as they are generally ignored less. Don’t seek to sell on these calls – simply asking how people are and what they are up to invariably leads to follow up opportunities.
#3. Create a continuous feedback loop
Customer feedback is one of the greatest gifts for a services based industry. BUT, only if you act on the feedback given. Customers remember when their feedback results in tangible improvements. Next time a key customer gives you input – good or bad – don’t just nod and file it away. Show them you’re listening by making changes where necessary and letting them know about it. A quick email to say, “We’ve implemented your suggestion,” can reinforce that you’re committed to providing top-notch service. It’s the kind of proactive communication that keeps customers coming back.
We’ve also found that longstanding customers who you’ve worked with for a while will be more prone to providing honest feedback on the services you provide and can also be used to test out new products and ideas.
