Do you want to ensure your sales people don’t neglect your clients. CLICK HERE.
I have seen this happen too many times in my career – B2B companies not looking after their clients, once they become clients.
And I use the word “fatal” here because too many of these clients become fatalities to their vendor companies, because of the following three mistakes.
They are no longer clients because these companies;
1. Forgot about their clients once they became a client.
I have seen it in so many of my client companies, and also other companies I have been associated with.
Let me give you a prime example of how a company I had invested in lost their largest revenue client.
A number of years ago, a friend of mine was about to buy a travel agency, and he needed a couple of outside investors to help him complete the deal. So I became one of those investors.
Shortly after he bought the agency, he landed a large client. The client’s senior VP, whom my friend had sold the business relationship to, told him that he needed to deal with one of his subordinates, a supervisor, on a daily basis.
My friend then moved one of his senior agents into the premises of this new client, as they did a lot of travelling, and it was much easier to simply go and talk to the agent in person, rather than on the phone. And this agent then has this client as her sole client.
As you can surmise, this agent did a bang-up job of ensuring this client had a great experience with my friend’s agency, by giving this client exceptional service, and guaranteeing they got the best deal on travel, hotels, restaurants, car rentals, etc.
When my friend did a review with the supervisor, he got nothing but rave reviews about the service his company was getting from the agent and my friend’s agency overall.
However, my friend hardly ever spoke to the senior VP over the three years this company was a client.
Well, guess who was speaking to this senior VP?
That’s right – many of my friend’s competitors.
They were telling this VP, not only the kind of service they would deliver, but how much less expensive they were. And what other benefits and goodies they could deliver.
And one of these competitors was American Express.
American Express was telling this client about all of the benefits they could get with Amex, like cheaper credit cards, faster service, cheaper rates, etc.
They also were telling him that they never had to worry about Amex going out of business, like so many other smaller and independent travel agencies had done.
So, eventually Amex eventually got the business. And only part of it was because they were American Express. The real reason was because my friend ignored this senior VP.
The only thing my friend couldn’t really offer was an Amex credit card. But I know he could have offered a bank credit card if he had approached his banker.
He gave this company exceptional service. He found them the best rates on hotels, car rentals, restaurants, etc. In fact, his inside agent even made the reservations for the restaurants, hotels, car rentals, etc.
But he wasn’t dealing with the right person often enough.
He ignored his best client.
Are you ignoring your best client?
As you can see, offering exceptional service isn’t enough. You need to keep in touch with your clients, or you could lose them. But you need to do more than simply call them up and ask how things are going.
Please read on to see how you can ensure you keep in touch the right way.
Do you want to ensure your sales people don’t neglect your clients. CLICK HERE.
2. Didn’t update their clients on pertinent events and useful knowledge.
This mistake obviously relates to the first fatal mistake, but is more in-depth.
But this mistake really is about educating each client about what is going in their industry, and also your industry that will help them in their job.
This also gets back to relevant content on your website and blog.
You need to keep your clients on top of important events that could affect them.
As an example, what are the experts saying about their industry. Companies such as Forrester, McKinsey, IBM, etc. do research all of the time. What are they saying that could, even if it’s just in some small way, affect your client’s business?
What have other clients of yours done, that they will share, that could help your other clients grow?
What new feature or product or service have you introduced lately that has given other clients amazing results?
What events are happening in their industry that could help them? If a client is strategic enough, invite them to the event, and go with them.
Run events, strictly for your prospects and clients, that will give them a chance to interface with other clients and prospects, where they can learn how your other clients are using your products and services.
Take them out to dinner with their significant others. Go golfing with them. Take them to a concert or a play. Get to know them better personally. This helps build rapport and trust.
There are many things you can do with your clients that help them get to know you better, and help them perform better in their job.
And performing better in their job is their ultimate business goal.
Do you want to ensure your sales people don’t neglect your clients. CLICK HERE.
3. Didn’t inform their clients what results these clients have achieved by utilizing their products/services.
I find that this is the biggest mistake of all.
People are busy these days. They can easily forget that you are doing an outstanding job for them, and delivering amazing results for their business, and ultimately them. See mistake number 1.
Don’t forget, they don’t see you every day, or even every month.
You need to tell your clients what results they are getting from using your products and services.
By eliminating this mistake, you will ensure that you will keep this client for a long time.
However, you need to do some work to keep them informed of the results they are receiving from your company.
You need to work with them, and especially the people who are using your products and services, to show them all of the functions your products and services provide.
Most clients don’t utilize the many functions your products and services do provide. By working closely with them and showing them all of the functions, you become more ensconced in their daily lives.
Your products and services become vital to them, and they cannot do their jobs effectively without them.
However, you must understand what results each client is getting by utilizing your products and/or services.
And the only way to do this is to ask them, and if necessary, help show them what the results are.
You should also have at least one major update session per year, and preferably twice a year. And the main decision maker MUST be at those meetings.
You need to get the senior executives together, and show them the results they are receiving by using your company and its products and services.
Let me give you an outstanding example of how one of the Senior Key Account Managers (KAM) at IBM did this for one of the five major banks in Canada.
Every year this KAM would get the senior people from his account, the Bank, to come to IBM’s offices for a yearly update.
He didn’t do this just once a year, but the end of the year update was especially important.
He got all of the senior bank executives over for a lunch, and then did something none of them had seen before.
Right after lunch he got up and said he wanted to introduce, to the Bank, all of the people at IBM that did some kind of work for the Bank.
He called each of them into the meeting room individually. He gave their name and department and how they contributed to the success of IBM’s products and services in the Bank.
He introduced the IBM executives, the other account managers, the systems engineers, the customer engineers, the marketing people, the accounts receivables people, and so on and so on.
By the end of the session, he had introduced 105 people who had at least some of their job helping the Bank.
The Bank people were blown away. They had no idea that IBM had so many people helping the Bank so deeply, to help them be more effective in THEIR jobs.
This really helped cemented the business relationship IBM had with this Bank.
You need to let your clients know how you help them. There a number of ways to do that, and this is just one example.
Conclusion
So, as you can see, you need to look after your clients, and when you do show them the results they are getting, they remain clients much longer, and more times than not, they will also buy more from you.
And they will also be good references and advocates for you and your business.
Take care of your clients, keep them informed, and let them know what your products and services are doing for their business and for them.
Kind regards,
Ian Dainty
Ian Dainty’s Email
Letting the client know how much he has benefited from your service — absolutely essential! That story of introducing the 105 people who worked on the account — powerful. Thanks for all you’re doing to help business prosper.
You’re welcome Virginia. Thanks for your comment. I also had a look at your website. I have some ideas if you’re interested.