Million Dollar Conversations - How to grow your business with your best customers
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A question I
sometimes ask managers and salespeople when
I speak at conferences is, “How much business do you think you may be
leaving
on the table with your existing customers?”
Most lament that there’s lots of room for growth in
gaining more of
their customers’ wallet share. I
believe
that most companies – even small businesses - have at least a million
dollars
worth of extra potential revenues sitting in their filing
cabinets. The problem is employees
aren’t effective
enough at cross-selling and cross-referencing their other products and
services. Let’s
talk about how to get more of this
business out of your filing cabinet and into your bank account.
Lesson
from Las Vegas
First,
decide which customers you should focus
on. Consider the
strategy of casinos. They
categorize their customers as being tourists,
high-rollers, or whales. “Tourists”
and “high rollers” are self
explanatory. “Whales” are the ultra rich who can afford big losses and
still
return for more. Each
industry has its
own version of whales. These
are the first
customers to approach. The
problem next
is how do you ask your whales for their extra business?
Let’s begin with what not to
do.
Make
it deliberate
A
common way to ask customers for more
business is to mention, “By the way
we have this other product or service that you may be interested
in…” That approach works OK if
you’re selling
hamburgers and ask, ‘Fries with that?”
If on the other hand your products or services are priced
higher than $3
fries, you’ll need to have a more meaningful, deliberate conversation
than a
‘by the way’ approach. You’ll
need three
things: 1. Their undivided attention
2.
Confirmation that they’re pleased with your existing products and
3. A suggestion to expand
that business.
Get
their attention
Inform
your whale that you’re doing a
“courtesy check-in’™ to ask for their
input and advice on some of your products/ services.
Customers are flattered to be asked for advice. For them it
gives them an
opportunity to
sound smart. Positioning
the
conversation as a “courtesy check-in” ™ implies that’s it’s something
pleasant
(a courtesy) that it won’t take a long time; you’re merely ‘checking
in’.
Begin
the conversation by expressing
appreciation. Tell
them why their
business is valuable to you and what you like about doing business with
that particular
person. Do your
homework and be
specific. Remember,
these are your whales… there will
be lots of reasons you
appreciate their business. So,
go ahead
and tell them.
Think
about it… if you stopped the
conversation right there you may have just cemented that customer’s
loyalty. How
often do you think they hear this type of feedback from a
supplier? You
may in fact be the first supplier who's ever told
them this.
Customers are human; they don't like being taken for granted. With corporate
clients, the money they spend often doesn't come out of their own
pockets; so
it costs them nothing personally to spend a little more with a supplier
who appreciates
them. Good return for the cost of saying the decent thing to
your best
customers.
Confirm
your strengths
Tell
your whale
you want to continue to earn their business.
Ask if they have any general concerns about
your products / services that you should be aware of.
If they do express concerns be prepared to
address them right away. It
makes no
sense to talk about expanding your business at this stage if they
aren’t completely
satisfied with your existing relationship.
If
the customer has no general concerns, then
go on to specifics. Ask about three areas that you think you are doing
an
exceptional job in but that you want to ensure that’s this is true from
that
customer’s perspective. This
helps
remind the customer that you are indeed giving them great overall
value; beyond
just pricing. Then
and only then is it
time to explore expanding that business.
Ask
– don’t tell
After
the customer confirms they value your
existing businesses, sum-up with,
“Sounds like we’re doing a reasonable job providing
product x for you…
and we’d love to do more business with you with product y.
What advice do you have on
how we might move
forward with this?” Again,
you’re asking
the customer for advice. They
may tell
you their buying process, or you could discuss doing a pilot project
where they
try your other products/services in one of their operations for a
limited trail.
If
you’ve been suggesting they try your other
product/ service for some time, then consider adding, “We been talking
about
the possibility of testing this for x months /years. Is this something
you’d
like to move forward with on a trial basis, or would you rather we just
dropped
the whole thing? What’s
your
advice?” With this
statement you are
asking them to either take a baby step forward or stop wasting time
with
ambiguous statements. It’s
a reasonable
question to ask so that you can either advance the process or move on
to other
clients. Either
way, it’s a more solid
strategy than simply hoping that someday your best customers might drop
you a
few more crumbs.
The
payoff
The
bonus with expanding your business with
your whales is not only do you earn more of that customer’s wallet
share; you
also gain access to more customers like them.
Whales after all, congregate
with
other whales. That’s
why I call them million dollar conversations.
About the Author
This article
is based on the bestselling book, Influence
with Ease by customer
service strategist and certified professional
speaker Jeff Mowatt. To obtain your own copy of his book or to inquire
about
engaging Jeff for your team, visit www.jeffmowatt.com or call toll free
1-800-JMowatt (566-9288).
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2010-11-04 15:26:56 in Marketing Articles
