If your goal is to retain and expand relationships, it is important to create a consistent and remarkable experience for your customers, clients, and potential clients. If you are not providing a superior experience, your clients might start asking, “Then, who will?” Here are several questions to consider as you reflect on your customer retention strategies in sales:
• What are you doing to keep your clients happy and satisfied?
• Are they telling others about your business?
• Is your organization providing an excellent consumer experience for your clients?
• Are you getting to know the wants, needs, and pain points of your customers each and every single day?
• Are you under-promising and over-delivering results?
Now, can you think of a place where you go, wait in a long line, spend a lot of money, and yet can’t wait to tell others how great your experience was? Well, that could describe a number of places, but the frame of reference I want to use today is the Disney experience. Disney has been successful for years by building advocates for their brand.
No one would argue with the success that Disney has had in exceeding expectations and creating loyal advocates. In his book, Inside the Magic Kingdom, author Tom Connellan explains the seven keys to Disney’s success and how they work to create a dazzling experience for all of their guests. As you read the book, you can only imagine what goes into building and sustaining that kind of relationship with your customers.
In order to achieve “dazzling,” you must have a process that is consistent and predictable. People need to know what they can depend on when they trust you with their business. In other words, it’s not a once-in-a-while thing; it is just the way you do things, every day.
Keep in mind that it does not have to be the same thing for all of your clients. The way you support your top 20% should be different from how you support your bottom 20%.
But, at the heart of it all, everyone gets the basics. However, if you want to retain and increase sales within your organization and stand out from the competition, your organization must be willing to impress, dazzle, and treat your advocates like members of your family. It may sound drastic to some, but there is a reason that some companies truly stand out in a crowded market.
It’s the little things that matter in business.
Here are 4 strategies for retaining and creating loyal advocates for your organization:
- You have to find out what they want. How do you do this? Ask! Give them a list of things to choose from with the option to add things that might not be on the list.
- Next, prioritize critical areas. The key here is to find out what they won’t tell you. How many times have you left a restaurant after you told your server everything was fine when they asked? Some of your clients may do the same thing.
- Identify performance levels and find out where they are setting the bar; don’t assume you know.
- Negotiate expectations. Now is the time to deal with anything you are not willing to agree to. Sometimes we say “yes” because we think it’s a deal-breaker; just ask and then decide. If it is outside your process, then you are better served to move on because, unfortunately, it will always be a struggle and they will never become an advocate anyway.
A footnote to the above: I am assuming that you already have a strong knowledge base and industry acumen of the goals and challenges of the business you are working with. The only way to exceed your customer’s expectations is to know what they actually are, not what you think they are. Start by having that conversation first, and soon you will have them coming back for more and telling their friends. This understanding of client expectations is one of the most powerful customer retention strategies in sales.
Article by the late, great Walt Gerano, Sales Development Expert
