We’d like new sales with our biggest client. We’re almost finished with their project. It is the only project of that size coming in the door right away. How do we take this customer and turn that contract into new opportunities?
Thoughts of the day: New sales is a discipline that gets top priority in any company. Teaching everyone to think and act like a salesperson will help. Be careful about overly committing to whales before the company can handle it. Once you’ve done the really hard work of cracking open the door, learn how to mine the potential of existing business.
Turning existing customers into new sales
Set aside time for the whole company to work on all phases of sales. Include on the list: looking for new opportunities, qualifying leads, gathering information about specific prospect needs, preparing proposals, pricing bids, closing on opportunities, bringing new clients on board, managing existing client relationships, and going back to existing clients for more. If that sounds like a lot, it is. And it’s the most important work the company can do.
Build a schedule for sales-related activities. Ask all parts of the company to contribute. Make it clear that getting, keeping, and expanding customers is what keeps food on everyone’s table. A diverse team is likely to produce much greater results. Watch that sales activities are given priority every day, every week, by every department. Ask people to report on what they’re doing in order to be sure.
Spread the workaround. Finance can work on the analysis of prospects, pricing new work, and evaluating profits of done deals. People who deal with existing customers can make suggestions on what else customers want. Ask human resources to bring departments together to build a composite picture of what makes a good customer. Once that’s clear, HR can build a training plan to teach people throughout the company what to look for. That’s in addition to what sales and marketing are already doing to build new business opportunities.
New conditions new strategies
Invest in some form of sales education for all if your employees. Sales is not taught in schools. Therefore, don’t expect your employees to be comfortable with how to handle customer communication, information gathering, negotiating or asking for commitments. Build an orientation class that every employee has to attend. Address the basics: what makes a good customer, how to spot an opportunity, how to gather information, who to refer customer and prospect information to, what to do if there’s a concern. Build a continuing education curriculum for each department, to reinforce the importance of working on sales-related activities. Send your sales leaders to outside classes to sharpen and encourage proper sales behaviors.
When looking at new customers and projects, carefully evaluate the size of each potential deal. How much of the company’s resources will it consume? How demanding is the customer going to be? Will the company be able to work on other opportunities? Will the customer readily cough up referrals that can help get things moving when they’re winding down?
Inspire customer loyalty with company beliefs
Big contracts can be distracting and all-consuming. Profits may be tiny, once the costs of managing risk and re-energizing sales at the end of the contract are factored in. Be sure to do the math before jumping into a major bid.
Know how much business your company can handle. Regularly ask, “How stable is the customer base?” If the answer is, “We’d be in big trouble if we lost one or two key customers,” it may be time to shrink the size of contracts so the company can diversify and expand its customer portfolio.
Remember the most expensive part of the sales cycle is getting in the door. Once in, it’s all about using the opportunity to be in front of the client to build a long-term relationship. Make sure your company has something additional to sell to existing clients. Write an expansion plan for each client. Make sure clients are clued in and on board with your plans for them.
Looking for a good book? Try “Contagious Selling: How to Turn a Connection into a Relationship that Lasts a Lifetime” by David Rich.
