New Year's Resolution: I Will Not Take My Customers for Granted!

The beginning of a New Year is a great time to reflect on the past and look forward into the future. What can we learn from 2008 and what do we all plan to do differently in 2009? This January will have one difference. The current economic environment provides circumstances that are outside of the control of many sales executives. There is still quite a bit we can learn from 2008; our first task is to determine what we can actually do differently to make a positive difference.

Building, managing, and improving the relationships with current customers and prospects is absolutely one area that can be improved to make a positive difference.

Customers are an asset. They have current and future value to our companies and to individuals. Ask yourself; is your customer an appreciating asset or a depreciating one? January 2009 is the perfect time to begin investing in your customer assets ensuring that those relationships are appreciating and ultimately paying you dividends.

Like any asset, if it is to appreciate, it cannot be ignored and must be managed. Your customer relationships are no different. One key objective of a sales professional is to keep their current customers and to find or create opportunities to up sell and resell them your products and services.

Key aspects of your customer investments include:

Time: Are you spending adequate and effective time with your existing clients? The time you spend with your clients is crucial to build and maintain relationships. This is a good time look at the full year ahead and even calendar times to call and schedule meetings with your current clients. To make that time valuable, not just for you, but also for your client, create a relationship plan. Be respectful of their time and don’t waste it – rather, have a strategy of what you want to accomplish that is in both your interest and your clients.

Resources: With the current economic environment in 2009, we can forge stronger partnerships with our clients by exceeding their expectations and adding unexpected value to their business and their lives. Think about ways that you can provide low cost, yet high value extra deliverables to your clients. These additional resources may provide enough impact to lock out the competition and enable you to solidify your relationships.

Avoid the trap of taking your customers for granted. Just because you have sold them once does not guarantee the sale in the future. Approach renewal sales with the same rigor that you approach new business. Create current and updated VisionMatches with your clients that link your solutions to the issues and problems that they are facing today. Do you understand the key business issues your customers face in 2009 and how to connect your solutions and capabilities to resolve those identified issues?

A fundamental tenet of customer relationship management is to build multiple relationships and coalitions within your customer companies. Cast your net broad and deep within your customers. This will provide you not only greater opportunity to expand the value you can bring to your customers; it will also mitigate the risk you would face if you only have a relationship with a single individual in an account.

Finally, within your customer strategy should be the ability to reinforce and support the previous purchases that have been made with you. Your ability to document and focus on realized value and gain from their current investments with you will help pave the way for future investments. If your current customers cannot tell you the impact of doing business with you, your opportunity is to make that connection real and relevant to your customers.

To ensure that your customers are appreciating assets – keep your customer investment and relationship strategy in focus. You can add value to your customers during every interaction if you have a plan and a strategy. In January 2009 every sales professional should have a resolution about improving their customer relationships and building new relationships.