For many businesses, their sales focus is on getting new clients in the door. Many businesses fail to look after their existing clients – despite these overwhelming statistics.

• The probability of selling to an existing client in Australia is 60-70 per cent, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5-20 per cent
• A five per cent improvement in customer retention could increase profitability by 25 per cent

Before chasing the shiny, new client, please look after the ones you already have. 

There are three great reasons (any many more besides these) for this: 

1. Keeping your existing clients onboard costs much less than chasing new ones. 
2. There are latent needs in your existing client that you might be able to serve.
3. Referrals from existing clients are the easiest and best way to access new potential clients. 

Practical steps to show your clients some love

Now you are out showing everyone how much you love them, let’s add some business substance to this.

One of my favourite strategies is to connect with clients in a a quarterly (six monthly or annual) visit (or phone call).  In this visit, use these ideas:

• Get to know them; ask about their life and how they are doing.
• Share with them what you have been working on and learned since you last spoke.
• Share with them what you are looking forward to in the next period.
• Ask them what they have been working on and learned since you last spoke.
• Ask them what they are looking forward to in the next period:
  • SEE where you can help
  • ASK if you can help
  • THANK them for their business
  • ASK for a referral of someone else you would be able to help.

What if you’ve got lots of customers?

If you’re working with many customers or clients, and don’t have time to check in with them, here are some ideas for you to show the love:

• Send them a birthday card and gift related to your business over email. This might be a voucher for your business to encourage them to come back.
• Send big spenders something to say thank you, if you sell products.
• Use a newsletter to share information on what you are doing, learned and looking forward to.
• Ask your customers what they want, where they are having trouble and or seeing opportunities.
  • SEE where you can help
  • ASK if you can help
  • THANK them for their business
  • ASK for a referral of someone else you would be able to help

Loving your clients is an essential part of business, so go out and show the love this February.

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Wrong. If you want to smash those revenue targets, that work starts now.

Sales targets are a slippery beast, but a beast that can be mastered. I want to share that magic with you here. But don’t tell anyone ok – it’s just between you and me.

Step One: Know your target and what they value

When you are going hunting, you need to know your target. Know what makes them tick. Know what they like and dislike. When you describe their pain and aspirations, it is important to be able to put that into their words (not your jargon). I want you to be able to think and speak like your best client.

ACTION:
• Not sure what your clients really think, say and feel, then go and ask them. Ask them about why they work with you and why they said yes.
• Share this with your team so everyone knows what your client’s value.
• Build cultural metrics into your business that will reinforce the value creation with existing and new staff.

Step Two: Break your dollar targets into numbers

From the actions above you are clear about who they are, now we have to break your targets into dollars per client. Look at your average sales per client to give you a guide for this. Use these insights to share stories and build sales tools that will help your prospective clients really understand you, the value you can bring them and how they can best work with you.

It is also true that clients don’t just arrive and start spending. We have to think about how we bring these clients in, who are the people that are going to be charged with this activity and what does that process look like.

ACTION:
• Break your targets into numbers of clients.
• Break your sales process down into steps for each of these clients.
• Know the metrics that you need to reach each week to deliver these clients.
• Know the metrics that you need to reach each week to bring those clients in successfully to your business.

Step Three: Be accountable for your activity

Now it is down to you to get started. Don’t wait for the first client to walk in; take action. The challenge for you is to think about how you can maximise your time with the right people, to say the right things, and get the results you want.

I know that selling isn’t the only thing you do, but if you are going to grow your business, then it is the most important. Block time in your calendar when you are at your best for these activities.

ACTION:
• Know your weekly numbers for phone calls, visits, proposals and follow up (and do them).
• Record them in a CRM so you can track your effectiveness.
• Be accountable to someone for these numbers.

So, now it is up to you to go and make this happen.

Frances Pratt, sales and CX expert and winner of the HerBusiness member of the year award

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Lean and giving is client-centric. You build by understanding the value you give producing something that has built-in longevity, heart and meaning. As you add employees their stories are woven in too. Building a business around these value stories invites change with each new person, client, and idea.

All businesses start with an idea

Lean and giving is built through conversations allowing you to better understand what it means to them. You understand the difference you can make to others, the value you give. This value proposition has greater meaning because it has been built around clients and their problem or aspiration. Delivering value for all parties is organic, rather than building a mansion around your idea and hoping that people will come.

It makes sense financially because telling your story to potential clients opens up opportunities to ask them to buy. Whether they say yes or no, this narrative becomes intrinsically part of your business growth. Building around our clients is more about the value you create for others.

It’s not lean and mean … it’s lean and giving.

It starts with you

The journey to lean and giving starts with you. You learn what you love, about the value you offer. This is “starting with the end in mind” by Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) in action. You witness your funeral and think about what you would like others to say about you. Instead of spending time working all this out on your own, you work this out in front of your clients. Conducting this in the real world helps you unearth your values, how you operate and what drives you.

You can work on your own on your values, but it’s your values in action that matter. Working out how you operate whilst interacting with clients ensures it will work and deliver value. The power of doing it with your clients is that you become invested in what works for them and breeds in client-centricity from its inception. You allow your product or service to be better because it is influenced by the people you are building it for.

Building the composite story

The power of lean and giving is built through actions with clients and witnessing the impact you have so this becomes an integral part of your story, your brand. Having worked your model with a handful of clients you deeply understand your value, your activities and outcomes. This power is multiplied because the composite value proposition gives your brand greater credibility. It’s not an idea any more, you have proof.

This evolution produces a deep understanding of your client, your offering and you. Your processes reflect where value is delivered and allows you to explain this with clarity to your best client. You create the People, Process and Physical Evidence needed to market, sell and deliver on brand. You are ready to scale with the proof, meaning and purpose, grounded in the value you deliver to you, your staff, your customers and the wider community.

Lean and giving is a fundamentally better way to build because it delivers a more holistic and organic business model that is truly scalable around the composite of unique value points and so is fundamentally healthier and more robust.

Frances Pratt, Sales and Customer Experience Expert and winner of the HerBusiness member of the year award

The post Lean and giving – a different way to scale appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The answers they come up with to these questions have a significant outcome of the success of their businesses, so, I have developed a set of tried and tested tips, tools and techniques for businesses in their start-up, growth and maturity phases.

Asking yourself these questions each time you begin a new phase in the development of your business will give you clarity and purpose as you start out, grow and then establish your business as a mature enterprise.

Questions for your start-up phase

• What are you interested in doing?
• How can you be of service to those you know?
• What skills can you use in this?

Questions for your growth phase

• Are you doing something that you love?
• How do you know the world needs this?
• Are you working at something you are good at?
• Are you able to get paid for this?

Questions for your maturity phase

• Who is your client and what makes them tick?
• What are your client’s problems and / or aspirations?
• Why do they buy from you – what value do they get and how do they describe this?
• How do you best help your clients on this journey?
• What have I learned, and where is this journey now taking me and my business?

Frances Pratt, Sales and Customer Experience Expert and winner of the HerBusiness member of the year award

The post The questions you need to ask yourself in your start-up, growth and maturity phases appeared first on Inside Small Business.