The root of 99% of anxiety in business seems to relate to leads.
“Not enough of them”, mostly; too many is a positive problem as it means you can pick the best and defer the rest.
How common is it to see the Boss, the marketing crew and the salespeople running around focusing on finding new leads?
Answer: Common.
The trouble is; unless you are just launching in biz, or have some nuanced product that people only buy once and then never see you again, new leads should not be your focus at all.
In fact even if you do sell a nuanced one-off product, the following likely still applies.
Why don’t you need new leads?
Because you aren’t taking care of the ones you already have.
Consider:
The details you took at the last expo and never even contacted, or never more than twice
The clients you already have but never cross-sell or up-sell to
The clients whose loyalty you are taking for granted, that your competition is currently nurturing
The clients whose data you have not kept up to date, so your e-newsletters bounce, or calls go unreturned
The wonderful stuff your marketing people create, that is sent but never followed up – people do forget the promos you already told them about, believe it or not
The contacts within a big company that have moved on, so you risk losing that business
The new visits your salespeople make but then wait on info from forever
Don’t run away from this article just yet.
You might be chasing new profits as they are more interesting than retaining the ones you already have.
Are you able to answer these questions without being vague?
Try.
How much does it take for you to get a new client, both in dollars/time?
What is the average number of contact points it takes (for a particular salesperson or across the company) to achieve the first sale?
How many “units” do you need to sell to at least maintain profitability in a given timespan
How many times after closing and getting a yes or no are you asking for referrals?
Do your salespeople have a script to use to ask for referrals? That is, instead of asking the client “who do you know who might like our offer”, they are telling the other party specifics of who they are looking for/can help.
What is your rate of attrition? That is, how many of your clients fall off each year even with your best efforts? This will give you some stats to base your lead targets off for starters.
Are your follow-up calls merely courtesy calls asking “did you see x”/”just want to see if there is more we could do for you”? Or are your salespeople asking specific questions that will get specific and actionable answers?
Are you contacting your best clients to ask what you can do better and what marketing they are resonating with?
Are you just building a relationship with the current decision-maker in a big company who is already doing business with you, or the guy in the warehouse and the gatekeeper in reception, too? The current decision-maker might move on soon, so it is important to know multiple contacts if it is a big client.
Too often directors get diverted with a shiny new object, and so the team starts to neglect their existing clients.
Stop running to greener pastures until this one is flourishing!
Too often marketing teams create material that is only designed to attract the eyes of new clients, not content that will nurture current ones.
So, remember to add value both sides of the sale!
Too often salespeople are making appointments with potential clients to get an adrenaline kick, and meeting current clients with more of a courtesy/old friend feeling than checking their needs are being met and the communication is on point.
Start using data, scripts and processes.
We’ve all seen those pictures that show the cost of a new customer compared to keeping a customer happy.
We’ve all seen the ones of how many follow ups/contact points it takes to get someone over the line (some say 5, some say 8, we say work out what the average is for your business/specific sales reps so that you can then set relevant KPIs).
Any business who has lost clients due to neglecting them will tell you it is a costly lesson.
Start tackling just one of the considerations or questions we have thrown at you and see if it helps.
Of course, if you are not yet tracking these stats, that would be a good place to start.
If you could do with some help with making sure your database is up to date, outsourcing your teleservices, or even things to include in your calls, reach out.
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