As another year ends, companies are gearing up to launch their business plans and strategies for the new year. How much effort is put into marketing campaigns and sales strategies targeted to drive new business and new customers for your organization? But what about your existing customers? Are you missing out on opportunities by overlooking your current customer base?
We’ve all heard this statistic: Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer, right? But what about this fact: The success rate of selling to a customer you already have worked with is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is only 5-20%.
Obviously, to grow your organization, it’s important to add new customers, however, a major part of your growth can come from selling more to the customers you already have. By selling more to your current customers, you immediately increase your probability of success. Here are three steps to go about this:
- Know Who’s Satisfied … Don’t assume that every customer is happy! It’s important to gather feedback from your customers to confirm their satisfaction with your products and services — it would certainly be hard to sell more to a customer that isn’t happy. Conversely, identifying gaps in customer expectations vs. their experiences will help you understand drivers of dissatisfaction and defection. These obstacles and barriers are likely limiting your growth and need to be resolved to get those customers back on track.
- Know what their Needs are… When you know and act on customers’ needs and desires, you keep them coming back for more. Whether you measure this through repeat purchases, continued subscriptions or other indicators, a long-term customer means more revenue in your business’ pocket so make sure you have a clear understanding on what they need and what they want and most importantly, make sure you can deliver to their expectations.
- Make Sure They Know What You Offer…. Don’t assume your customers know everything there is to know about all your products and services – even if you’ve worked together for a long time. Things change – people and needs change. Periodically reviewing your product offerings with your customers can help uncover opportunities to drive additional sales and fast-track the business outcomes you desire — selling more products and services to your customers.
Consider these Customer Acceleration tips that will help you make more money from your customers and make them happier in the process! And if you’d like some help with it, please Contact Us, I’m happy to help you get started.
