Ian Titchener, Director of Telemarketing Matters, writes: Looking for new business is important, but so is maintaining existing relationships. Never forget that your old clients are somebody else’s new ones! Look after them, talk to them and cultivate long term repeat business. But of course, if you do not have the time, you could always hire a professional telemarketing consultancy!
You are probably pending a large amount of time and effort on generating a stream of new business (I hope you are using telemarketing!) But what are you doing to utilize your existing clients?
These people already know you, they have already used your services and may even be able to give you some referrals, even if they aren’t in the market for your product or service.
So here is the challenge:
- Make a list of all of the companies that have used you, but are not any more. If you do not know why they no longer do business with you, then mark them with a big X
- Make a list of all of the companies that you have nearly done business with, but may have been beaten to the line by a competitor
- Call all the X clients, and ask them “why aren’t we doing business anymore?” You might not like what you hear, but at least you will know, and you can change your approach so that it can never be an issue again. On the other hand, it may be something so trivial that you can put it right and win back a customer!
- Call all the near wins and ask them why you lost!
- They may be hacked off with the competitor but just have not had time to call you.
- It may be something trivial that you can overcome and claw back a silly loss.
The point of this post is simple; you could be sitting on a goldmine! So why aren’t you digging?
Merry Christmas!
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