Here is the most important tip from the best sales training company in Dubai – look after your existing customers and protect the business that they give you from the competition. Simply put, it’s cheaper and more profitable to maintain an existing customer than it is to continually lose and then HAVE to win additional new customers.
Sounds simple, frankly, it is straightforward. Let’s look at what customers REALLY want and then look at how to use that knowledge to keep them doing business with us, REPEATEDLY.
Consider this; you have an existing relationship with your client and you know this gives you an advantage over the competition. The key now is how to keep this relationship strong and make it impossible for the competition to break through.
So how do you build strong customer relationships?
When allowed, these can all be effective in building the short-term relationship, all such activities will work to a certain extent, but what all customers want to ensure that they remain loyal is RELIABILITY AND GOOD SERVICE.
For many years, I worked for an organisation that provided a service with regular repeat use by their customers. They understood that keeping existing customers, and growing their business was as important as winning new ones. When I first met two of my key sales executives they clearly had very different personalities which I immediately thought would affect how they related to their customers.
Salesperson A was quiet and reserved, perhaps a little shy and was not very forward when meeting people for the first time. My first impression was surprise that he had chosen sales as a career – many colleagues and managers were concerned about how well he would build relationships with his customers.
Salesperson B was outgoing, extremely smart and was a ‘barrel of fun’. It was clear to me that Salesperson B was going to conquer the world and become the top sales person, and that I would have to work on Salesperson A to adopt a more outgoing approach.
Salesperson A was extremely reliable. He arrived on time, responded in a timely manner to everyone’s needs and in general created a fantastic impression with all his customers and prospects within a few weeks. Although initially winning small pieces of business, his customers soon began using his services more and more and he quickly started to smash his targets.
On the other hand, I started getting phone calls from Salesperson B’s customers saying that he didn’t get back to them with information he had committed to. Several times he failed to turn up for meetings and on more than one occasion the customer was clearly misinformed about our service commitments, resulting in costly claims. These complaints increased, very quickly he was missing his target by so much that we eventually parted ways.
The two salespeople had the same resources, the same products and the same service levels. The major difference was how reliable they were, and this had a huge impact on our existing customers.
Very few customers stop using your company and defect to the competition if the relationship is strong and they feel that their custom is appreciated. Here’s how to keep your customers.
It’s not complicated, but most salespeople no matter how experienced and professional sometimes simply forget to VALUE their customers sufficiently.
It’s good sales practice to constantly assess every relationship. I’m sure that some salespeople will have excuses – very long sales cycles, large numbers of clients, lack of product to name a few, however, most of the above tips are 100% down to individual effort. Remember, you will be more successful if you take the time and make the effort to appreciate your customers business and provide them reliable support – ALWAYS.
If you liked what you read and want to know more, contact the best sales training company in Dubai and we will give you all the secrets to help you nail that deal!
