The customer relationship trap that kills repeat business

Do you ever run out of things to say to your former customers?  You’re told that you’re supposed to build relationships, and leverage opportunities, but often the only thing that comes to mind is, “How’s it going?”, or, “Just touching base!”
The ‘How’s it Going Predicament’ is common and painful, and it makes your customers to see you as a pest.  “What’s new?” reads as “Are you ready to buy yet?!”  That’s why those wheel-spinning checkins rarely result in closed business.

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To build the sort of longterm relationships that lead to lucrative follow up deals, a repeatable account management system is required.  That’s how you go from forgettable vendor to preferred supplier.

I know I’m being preachy, so let me give some context: I faced up against the “How’s it going?” problem for a long time. I hated calling former customers much more than cold calls with new prospects. Through much trial, error, and aggravation, I eventually honed a repeatable account management process. This brought me fruitful conversations, which lead to seven-figure revenues, dozens of Fortune 500 accounts, and compelling, nationally-syndicated projects.

From growing accounts across many verticals, I learned that the most important aspect of this system is continuous value.  “Value” gets thrown around a lot – what does it mean?  How do you provide it effectively?

I’m often asked how to address this problem, so I’d like to give you the 2-phase framework I use to slay the ‘How’s it Going?’ dragon.

Phase 1 – Over-deliver

Do you ever go out to eat at restaurant, and at the end of the meal the waiter presents a complimentary dessert?  At best, maybe this gesture tipped you over the edge and made you a loyal customer.  At worst, the dessert made your forget about some small hiccup, like a long wait.  From there, when your friend asks, “How was that new restaurant?” your response goes from, “It was pretty good”, to, “It was fantastic!”

It’s beside the point that the waiter offers the comped dessert multiple times throughout his shift.  You didn’t know that, or you didn’t care.  What matters is in that moment you were made to feel at least a little bit special.  The waiter over-delivered on your expectations.

The Complimentary Dessert Method

For very little investment, you too can offer a complimentary dessert too.  It will put you miles ahead with your customers.

Here’s how it works: keep a value addition quiet, and lay it on your client at the end of the engagement.  The element of surprise is important. Don’t lie or deceive, but make your recipient feel as though this is not something you bestow to just anyone.

Your free dessert will depend on your offering and industry, but here are a few ideas:

Web service
A web design firm might offer free hosting for 6 months after a client engages them

Resource library
Put together a thematically organized library of articles, books, and other multimedia related to your offering

Practical, fashionable swag
Don’t send unless you would wear or use it yourself.  Think shirts, coffee cups, flash drives, etc.

Tools
What would help your customer implement your offering, get better results, and/or measure success?  Think ROI calculators, buying guides, and spreadsheets.

Strategy session
It can be with you, or a provider or specialist ancillary to your offering.  Just make sure it does not come off as a disguised sales pitch.

Helpful referral
The introduction might be a valuable prospect, or maybe it’s helpful service provider.

Phase 2: Go for one call to action

Now it’s time for the most important part, the call to action, or CTA for short.  Avoid the feeling of a bait and switch.  95% of your “debrief” discussion should be for your client’s benefit.  The CTA will feel like an afterthought, albeit one you position assertively.

All the actions you compel your prospect to take will act as the soil for account growth because they contribute to feelings of reciprocity.  That might sound counterintuitive because sometimes your next action, like a referral request or an up-sell, is clearly to your benefit.  But if you position these asks as cures for specific painful areas your customer is experiencing, there is clear mutual benefit mutual benefit.  That’s especially true if you over-deliver on expectations during each and every engagement.

I can’t tell you what your CTA should be for every situation, but below we cover some ideas.  Don’t go for more than one, otherwise the requests become overwhelming, and inaction sets in.

While pursuing one CTA at a time is key, it doesn’t mean you can’t pursue others later.  In fact, leveraging different CTAs at different times is the main way you will avoid the ‘How’s it Going?’ predicament.

A. Soft sell

Again, you can’t do a bait switch here and launch into a pitch.  But if your client’s pain feels like it would be directly solved by your up-sell offering, or even an expanded version of the offering you just provided, this is an ideal time to at least mention your solution.

The goal at this early stage is low pressure and low stakes.  You might pose it as, “By the way, we offer consulting that I think would help with XYZ PROBLEMS you mentioned.  Would you be interested in learning more?  Can we discuss further next week, and I’ll send some details beforehand?”

Setting a new time to chat lets you avoid false affirmation and insincere commitments – your prospect won’t feel like they’re pushed into a corner.  Plus, you’ll have more time to focus on your up-sell product, and that alone.  From there, you’ll have your customer right where you want them: back in your pipeline.

B. Referrals

If your customer fits your top buyer personas, and seems like they would know qualified prospects, then pursuing referrals is ideal.  If a client’s industry or focus is atypical for your solution, then this option is less ideal.

Referrals are valuable because you start at a strong baseline of trust with whomever you’re introduced to.  Most salespeople don’t go to the trouble of asking for them.  Ask and you shall receive.

Your goal here is to make the referral as frictionless as possible.  Avoid asking, “Who, out of everyone you know in your life, should we pitch?”  Instead set constraints.

Drill down into specifics.  Focus on one buyer group and situation – don’t get too convoluted.  Make sure this person is likely to live in your customer’s world.

Here are some sample questions:

Ideal customers for us are tech startups that may move into new office spaces within one year.  I was wondering who in your world might benefit from our offering?

Would you feel comfortable introducing me to any marketing professionals you know in the healthcare space?

Maybe this is someone in a related department, or a different role in their industry with whom you have synergy; if you have a specific person in mind, then feel free to mention his or her name

No worries if no immediate ideas come to mind.  I’ll plan on following up in a day or two with more details.

Often, your customer won’t have immediate answers, and a little professional persistence can go a long way.  After all, in their giant network of contacts, it’s very unlikely that they’ll have no one for you.  You just have to hold them a little bit accountable or else the task will drop completely off their priority list.

C.  Testimonials and Cross Promotion

These options represent a comparatively minor commitment, so they should be reserved for situations where your client might not be able to re-purchase or offer a decent referral.

During your debrief conversation, go for general agreement to a testimonial, and follow up with specific details and instructions. Like before, the goal is to make the process as frictionless as possible.

Here’s how you might set it up:

Hey CUSTOMER,

Great speaking with you earlier!

As I mentioned, testimonials are a huge part of our business, and I really appreciate the support. Yours would go here. [Link to relevant webpage].

2-3 sentences and a picture is fine. You can just reply to this email with the text and I’m happy to use your LinkedIn photo if that’s convenient.

Thanks!

YOU

As for cross promotion, the most straightforward example is a customer interview.  Your customer’s story and the challenges and solutions they’ve implemented will enhance your marketing materials.  Best of all, you’ll be piggybacking on their following, which may very well be a great fit for your offering.

On your debrief call, describe what you expect for the interview.  Keep it low stakes and low commitment, but see if you can lock down a time.  Send any specific questions via email.  From there, record the audio/visuals over skype or a similar program, and then you can use the interview for a podcast, or you can transcribe it for a blog post.  Repurposing content after you’ve done the hard work is ideal.

Going further, you might consider hiring a journalist to conduct the interview.  This will save you time, but more importantly, you’ll be more likely to get a gushing review when you’re not the one asking the questions.

D. Case studies

Case study creation is a two birds with one stone strategy.

On one hand, you get to create an asset you can use over and over again to build trust with new clients.  The prerequisite is that the customer is the cream of the crop, as you’ll be investing significant time with them in order to gather results and create the study.  To decide whether or not they’re a fit for this strategy, consider whether or not you would create a unique landing page for their industry (If so, the case study will be a great asset for the landing page).

The hidden benefit of case studies is that the process of creating them will help you learn much more about your customer’s organization.  More importantly, since the study creation process will keep you present in their lives, you will become the provider of their results.

The success of the new pizza place in your town hinges on the dough, the sauce, the oven, and a variety of other factors.  If, however, the company that built the state of the art brick oven consults with the owner before, during, and after the restaurant’s soft launch period, which element will get the lion’s share of accolades when the restaurant explodes in popularity?  With that in mind, simply being present and helpful gives you a serious edge.

If your customer’s results from your offering are not up to par, then you’re probably not dealing with a great opportunity anyway, but at least the case study creation process will tell you that.  On the other hand, if the outcome is positive, you will be on-hand as a shoo-in for a follow up engagement.

Bad or good, you will know where you stand.  In the long run, this knowledge will help you identify and invest your resources in the most promising opportunities.

While the ins and outs of the case study creation process will depend on your situation, you can set it up by asking your customers questions like these:

How will you be measuring success?
What impact would you like to see?
By when would you like to see these results?

From there, it’s time to position yourself as an almost-free consultant.

I’d like to do everything I can to help you get these results, so I’m wondering, would it be helpful if I consult with you before launching XYZ INITIATIVE?

I think it will be helpful to give you insight into what similar companies we’ve worked with have done in this situation.   All I ask in return is that if the results are ideal, I can feature them in a case study.  How does that sound to you?

We won’t go too far into the weeds of case study creation, but know this: brevity is powerful.  A case study should be a short story with no more than a few key metrics.  Just a couple paragraphs usually does the trick.  It will consist of a problem, the action taken, and the solution.  Images or infographics are great, as are direct quotes from your customers.

Lock down the next appointment

Whatever CTA you’re pursuing, get the next meeting on the calendar in realtime.  If you don’t do that then you’ll find yourself chasing your customers around, leaving voicemails, and wasting time.  You can almost always lock down the next meeting by ending every conversation with one simple question:

“When would be an ideal time to reconnect?”

Coming up next…

In the third and final phase, you’ll access the premium learning experience, which will show you how drive business with a profitable account management process.

What’s been working for you when it comes to customer outreach?  Let me know in the comments… 

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