Some General Rules
to help You Sell in the Post Recession economy
The 90's and early 2000's were a time of great expansion and
sales growth was expected and assumed. However, as we come
out of this recession, this kind of sales growth cannot
continue to be expected. The first step is to watch your
current customers closely. What makes the difference, and
will bring them back next time, is good customer service.
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The 90's and early 2000's were a time of great expansion
and sales growth was expected and assumed. However, as we come out of this
recession, this kind of sales growth cannot continue to be expected. With the
future not being as rosy and with more uncertainty, the sales effort has to
become more focused and the company has to spend a lot more time and effort on
selling.
The first step is to watch your current customers closely. So long as the
company has been doing a reasonable job, your current customers are your best
resource. What would happen if you lost your top two customers? With the 80:20
rule, we know that the top 20% of customers make up 80% of sales, and with many
companies, the top two customers are as much as 50%. Their loss will be
devastating. So what are you doing to make sure your competitors do not steal
your top customers?
If the only thing you have to keep a customer is the lowest price, there is
always someone who will beat your price. What have you done (or are you doing)
to insure the customer won't bolt when someone quotes the work at $1 cheaper?
You have to have more of a relationship with your customers than just price.
Make sure everything in your products and services is the best you can make it
and if it's not, get it fixed. Compare everything the customer sees about your
company to the competition. If it's not perfect, or as good as you can make it,
fix it.
Yes, what we are talking about is customer service. Your customer is going to
pay you good money, and you already know you have to give him good product, but
what makes the difference, and will bring him back next time, is good customer
service.
Sales cost is a major factor in all businesses, and the customer you don't have
to go out and get is the best. Look after your current customers, and they will
come back and look after you.
The Author
After 25 years consulting to small and medium sized
companies,
Mike Anderson,
principal of
Train Me To Be a CEO
realized that the most important part of his work was
training the CEO, and the reason he was such a good
consultant was that he did that very well.
Trained as an engineer, he became a CEO of a midsize
corporation at the age of 35. After a spell at Harvard
Business School he entered the world of consulting.
3. Ongoing mentorship. Begins with a
minimum two day one on one, but continues with monthly or quarterly follow up sessions. (Smart
and probably Best!)
.
References
A New England Contractor
"Mike Anderson has been working diligently with the upper
management team at (our firm). Mike is
extremely knowledgeable and has an exceptional way of
dealing with many different personalities. He has worked
very closely with the Sales Team to impress upon them the
importance of using a consistent method of estimating. He
was instrumental in restructuring our accounting procedures."
