Show your best clients that they are special

Think about how the airlines treat you a little bit special if you fly with them all the time. It’s good for business, right?

So how do you show your best customers that you’d like to move them into the client bucket? How can you show them that they deserve a little special treatment?

Not that all the rest of your customers, the ones that aren’t in your client basket, should be treated like crap. It just means we move that up a notch. When they’re better customers, they move to clients.

So identify your top-tier clients. Identify them by profitability, or frequency of purchase, or after-sales service required, revenue, whatever it might be. And do some things to spend a little bit more time with them. Support some advisory councils, offer some incentive programs. Show some additional incentives, love trips or dinners or events.

Don’t worry about dropping prices for these people. If they buy more it tends to mean they’re getting more value from you.  Keep the margins where they are. Don’t drop price, add value instead.

Have some value-add training events. Go in and work with their staff, their people. Spend a few additional days with no strings attached. Have a client appreciation dinner. Give them a feeling of importance. That feeling of importance breeds a feeling of loyalty. The best way to get loyalty is to give it.

We’re looking to move people from customer to client so that our relationship with them is stronger, based on the value that we provide. And it really is about the way that they look at us in the end. But it starts with two things. It starts with the way that we look at ourselves and the moves we make.

What does Valentine’s Day have to do with selling?

What’s the difference between a customer and a client? It’s all about the relationship.

Think about Valentine’s Day: Husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, even little kids at school are making an effort to let that significant other know that they are special. So what if you looked to one of your customers in the next few days, next few weeks, next few months and, in effect, said: “Be my Valentine? I want a better relationship with you.”

Why? Because the best sales people don’t necessarily find more customers all the time. They look to penetrate existing relationships. They look to go deeper and wider into the accounts where people are already “raising their hands.”

They look for instances when their customers are saying or indicating things like:

•    Yes, I like you.
•    I like your products.
•    I like your services.
•    I like your prices.
•    I like your process.
•    I like who you are.
•    I trust you.
•    I value you.

When your customers are saying these things, you can leverage that relationship to go deeper and provide more value. And to get new introductions to other people inside or outside of that organization who also value what you deliver. So you get more referrals –  and more ideal prospects.

Photo: Dave Parker, via Creative Commons 2.0

Want to grow your sales? Look beyond the commission

We’ve discussed why it’s better to be in a relationship with your clients. To get there, the first thing you have to do is get in the mood.

What do I mean by that? You must develop a relationship mindset. And that means you must have a long-term focus. You can’t be just about the transaction; you can’t be just about the commission check.

It’s about valuing the relationship, and part of that is believing that you are someone with whom other people would want to have a relationship. Because you have:
•    Experience
•    Training
•    Skills
•    Ability
•    Knowledge

Maybe you have all five. These are attributes that your client will value when it comes time to purchase your product. Because they don’t want your product, they want what your product will do for them. You also must learn to think as much you can from your client’s point of view, and that goes to the heart of empathy. We are truly empathetic when we understand where our customers are coming from.

Here’s how to achieve that. Define the top 20% of your customers over the last year. It’s up to you whether it’s by revenue, profitability, number of purchases or whatever metric you want to use.

Once you know who they are, immediately increase your face time with them. And bring value to the table. Get in front of them and offer one idea, or one project to each one of them. Help them get a new piece of business. Ask for their opinions. Ask them questions. Listen to their answers.