by Jim Farrell
The concept of “earning your customers’ business” is a common marketing focus used in nearly all sales organizations. First impressions are important in the quest to earn a customer’s business, and much time and effort is often devoted to this in sales courses. Too often, once a customer starts to do business with a company, the honeymoon is over, and the customer becomes just another sales account.
Let’s take a look at the concept of earning someone’s business from the customer’s point of view. When new customers start to do business with your company, they assume all of the risk of the relationship. Your sales pitch has given them expectations of a variety of goods and services that you will provide. Those expectations can include product availability, recommendations, scouting, critical timing for custom application and fair pricing for products that you sell.
Let’s think of the new customer relationship this way. When a new customer comes to your company, you start with a debit to that customer to perform as promised. Every time products and services meet or exceed expectations, that is a credit. On the flip side, when customers have a problem with product availability, timing of applications, a product issue or an issue with understanding the billing process, that creates a debit. Once you determine the magnitude of the debits and credits, it becomes a math problem.
At the end of the season, if you have tallied up many more debits than credits, then you are at a significant risk of losing the new account.
Here are three ways you can increase credits and reduce debits to earn the business of more new accounts.
1. Survey customers to collect feedback on their interactions with you.
We need to determine customers’ perspectives on all products and services we provide to their operations. We need to constantly look for ways to improve the working relationship with our customers. Gaining the feedback is critical, but creating and executing the plan based on what we learn is just as important.
2. Ask questions to determine other existing or future pain points for customers.
How do we create a deeper relationship with our customers beyond what we work with them on today? Have we seen their business plans? Do we understand their cash flow? How are they dealing with technology advances? How do they find and retain employees? Asking the right questions will create more opportunities to add value and earn your customers’ business every day.
3. Create more touch points with customers.
Is your salesperson or agronomist your only touch point with a customer? How do we get senior leadership involved with our top customers? Customers feel more valued when “a boss” is interested in their businesses.
How do you use email, texting or social media to create a stronger relationship with your customers?
Here’s the takeaway: The important thing to remember is earning a customer’s business is not a one-time thing nor a once-a-year process built around crop planning. It is an ongoing process of tracking debits and credits.
