I was discussing sales strategy and short term quarterly goals with my team today. We have enjoyed a steady growth in the past year, and I was discussing this years target growth figures. We have a set of processes that handle lead generation, prospect qualification and deal closing. The stance that is usually taken to enhance sales figures, is to increase front end efforts in getting more leads, and qualifying prospects at a faster pace. This strategy has proved to yield less than spectacular long term results and instead of widening our scope of reach we decided to put more time and effort into enhancing our current relationships with clients. This is an area that has a lot of room for development, it is however often neglected as there is constant pressure from management to get new sales, and boost numbers on a quarterly basis.

This strategy may result in better sales figures for a period of time, but also results in unsustainable growth as the number of leads generated becomes thinner. Instead of putting time and effort into developing new customers it is wise to segment a large part of the sales team’s time in developing and nurturing relationships with current customers. This can be done in a variety of ways that include, feedback interviews, surveys (regarding product/service quality, customer service, pricing), referrals, understanding the client’s business better and a host of other activities that can help you serve the client better. Taking a hard selling approach with the sole focus of hitting quotas and quarterly figures leads to sacrificing the bigger picture, and makes it difficult to retain customers in the long run.

Given that it costs many times more to acquire a new customer than to service an existing one, it is a shame that many companies, both big and small put most of their sale efforts into the acquisition of new customers whilst neglecting existing ones. In times of recession it becomes even more important to understand your customer’s needs and situation. This will enable you to find ways to assist them with pressing pain points and help develop a much deeper relationship. Once you are entrenched, it is essential to consistently service your client and nurture the relationship to a level where the client becomes your sales ambassador and word of mouth about your product/service spreads even further.

How much of your effort is put into acquiring new customers rather than servicing existing ones? How are you renewing relationships with your clients on a regular basis? What strategies do you use to retain your customers? Look forward to your feedback and comments.