A Key to Generating More Sales
A Key to Generating More Sales
So how do you keep your customers coming back time and again? To answer this important question you need to take a moment and think about what would keep a customer coming back to a business. Three instances or relationships come to mind.
Three Basic Customer Relationships:
The Customer has a Positive Relationship with the Business
In this case, the customer has formed a positive relationship with a person (yourself) who works for the business or with the business itself. Perhaps they had a great experience and they now have an emotional bond with the business. Unfortunately, unless the emotional bond is nurtured, it dies a fast death. Sadly, there are few businesses that nurture their relationships with their customers.
The Customer has ‘Incentives’ to Continue the Business Relationship
People are human and because of that we are naturally wanting more (greedy, if you will). Companies who reward (bribe) their customers with coupons, points, credits, and bonuses create an incentive-based relationship that can crumble if the incentive is taken away or met by another competitor.
The Customer “Has” to Maintain the Relationship, as the Cost to Change is Prohibitive
In this instance, the business has tied or integrated it’s operations into the customer’s life or business so closely, that to change to another product or service provider would cause damage operationally, emotionally, socially, or financially. An example of this type of relationship might be a person who is emotionally dependent on his therapist (emotional) or a customer who uses your software to run their business (operational). For example using one of the Microsoft products and having trained yourself and your software to maximize your effectiveness.
This third type of relationship can be called a “Symbiotic Long-term Relationship” because it extends or integrates into the life of a person or into the operations of a business. Of the four basic types of Symbiotic Relationships (operational, emotional, social or financial), the operational relationship is the most powerful. Operational relationships exist when the actual work processes of two businesses overlap or boundaries between them merge or blend.
Each of the three types of relationships keeps customers coming back, but the first two are easier to break. The Symbiotic Relationship, has severe perceived and real penalties for breaking the relationship and; therefore, encourages the customer to come back repeatedly whether they like it or not. This is the ‘ultimate’ customer relationship and a key to profitably generating repeat sales. If you blend this with real concern and customer care this can be a long-term winner.
Investigate most highly successful companies and you’ll find that most have developed Symbiotic Relationships with their customers. Here are two great examples of companies that have created profitable Symbiotic Relationships.
FedEx
FedEx installs computer terminals in many of their customer’s businesses that help to determine shipping requirements, track shipments, and even integrates into the customer’s inventory, accounting and order management system to automate the returns process. This literally forces the customer to use FedEx for their express mailing needs. This is supported by their performance and commitment to 100% satisfaction. When you think that they process 2.5 million packages each day, this commitment is staggering. But if you had 20 people dealing with a package and each did so with only 98% efficiency, the result would be only a 67% accuracy. No wonder they have invested so heavily in IT and a hard commitment to this level of accuracy and customer satisfaction.
Campbell Soup
Campbell’s Soup has developed a successful vendor-managed inventory (VMI) program with its customers. A VMI program provides continuous replenishment for its customers by monitoring the customer’s inventory levels (physically or via electronic messaging) and makes periodic re-supply decisions regarding order quantities, shipping, and timing. In effect, Campbell Soup has literally taken over the entire replenishment function for its customers. And their customers love them for it. Just think, if you are in the grocery business and your margins are low (they are) and you are dependent on volume to create profit; any way that you can cut back on the time investment dramatically increases that margin. In providing a service Campbell Soup is creating a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.
Conclusion
Take some time to brainstorm how you can create Symbiotic Long-term Relationships in your business. Think about how you can extend your products or services “into” your customer’s business so that their cost to change to another provider is overwhelming. Remember, the most powerful relationship is one in which you and your customer’s business processes are intertwined.
Ask Yourself Some Questions - in each of the four areas of Symbiotic Relationships. Your answers will help give you ideas about what you can do to create or enhance a Symbiotic Long-term Relationship with your customer.
Operational
• Do you have a technology or system or service that you can integrate into your customer’s business? One that would meet their needs and truly assist them?
• Can you take over or manage a portion of your customer’s business operations to free them up for more productive activities, or to save them money in their operations or staffing expenses?
• Can you house or manage your customer’s data or assets at your place of business?
Emotional
• Can you attract, recruit or hire influential people in your industry (i.e. recognized industry experts, high-level executives in big companies, popular service professions) that already have very close relationships with target customers? This can open the door for long-term activity.
• Can you provide your customer with so much support (i.e. advice, attention, help) that they can’t do without you? They wouldn’t want to!
• Can you align your product or service with that of an existing, highly popular product or service? Does this enhance the effectiveness of both products and services and give the customer better service or results.
Social
• Can you get your customer to be a public booster, fan or champion (i.e. provide a public testimonial) for your business?
• Can you create or promote a brand so “cool” or popular, that to not use it would be almost embarrassing, to say nothing of expensive in lost sales and customers?
• Can you create and present an award to recognize your biggest customer(s) (or target prospect) and announce it to the industry?
Financial
• Can you offer a process-based program that requires a large upfront investment that effectively delivers products or services over time?
• Can you offer your significant customers an opportunity to financially invest in your business?
• Can you lock your customer into a long-term contract with penalties (negative incentives) attached for breaking the relationship?
Good selling!
© Copyright 2006 Bob ‘Idea Man’ Hooey All rights Reserved. Used with permission of the author. Excerpt from Bob’s new Book ‘Thinking Beyond the FIRST Sale.’ (due out fall 2004)
Bob ‘Idea Man’ Hooey is a productivity strategist and creativity catalyst who regularly writes for North American Consumer and Trade Journals, on-line magazines and company intranets. He is the author of 9 books and the 48th person in the history of Toastmasters International to earn their coveted professional level Accredited Speaker designation. He is a professional member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and the International Federation for Professional Speakers. Visit his website for additional articles like this one: www.ideaman.net
A Key to Generating More Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Bob Hooey's Website.
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Let’s deal with this myth first - there is no ‘real’ customer loyalty in today’s global economy! When we stopped giving service people started looking more at the price. People go where they get the best deal (meaning the best value for their money.) Just because your customer purchased from you once, don’t be deluded into thinking that they will ‘automatically’ buy from you a second or third time.
So how do you keep your customers coming back time and again? To answer this important question you need to take a moment and think about what would keep a customer coming back to a business. Three instances or relationships come to mind.
Three Basic Customer Relationships:
The Customer has a Positive Relationship with the Business
In this case, the customer has formed a positive relationship with a person (yourself) who works for the business or with the business itself. Perhaps they had a great experience and they now have an emotional bond with the business. Unfortunately, unless the emotional bond is nurtured, it dies a fast death. Sadly, there are few businesses that nurture their relationships with their customers.
The Customer has ‘Incentives’ to Continue the Business Relationship
People are human and because of that we are naturally wanting more (greedy, if you will). Companies who reward (bribe) their customers with coupons, points, credits, and bonuses create an incentive-based relationship that can crumble if the incentive is taken away or met by another competitor.
The Customer “Has” to Maintain the Relationship, as the Cost to Change is Prohibitive
In this instance, the business has tied or integrated it’s operations into the customer’s life or business so closely, that to change to another product or service provider would cause damage operationally, emotionally, socially, or financially. An example of this type of relationship might be a person who is emotionally dependent on his therapist (emotional) or a customer who uses your software to run their business (operational). For example using one of the Microsoft products and having trained yourself and your software to maximize your effectiveness.
This third type of relationship can be called a “Symbiotic Long-term Relationship” because it extends or integrates into the life of a person or into the operations of a business. Of the four basic types of Symbiotic Relationships (operational, emotional, social or financial), the operational relationship is the most powerful. Operational relationships exist when the actual work processes of two businesses overlap or boundaries between them merge or blend.
Each of the three types of relationships keeps customers coming back, but the first two are easier to break. The Symbiotic Relationship, has severe perceived and real penalties for breaking the relationship and; therefore, encourages the customer to come back repeatedly whether they like it or not. This is the ‘ultimate’ customer relationship and a key to profitably generating repeat sales. If you blend this with real concern and customer care this can be a long-term winner.
Investigate most highly successful companies and you’ll find that most have developed Symbiotic Relationships with their customers. Here are two great examples of companies that have created profitable Symbiotic Relationships.
FedEx
FedEx installs computer terminals in many of their customer’s businesses that help to determine shipping requirements, track shipments, and even integrates into the customer’s inventory, accounting and order management system to automate the returns process. This literally forces the customer to use FedEx for their express mailing needs. This is supported by their performance and commitment to 100% satisfaction. When you think that they process 2.5 million packages each day, this commitment is staggering. But if you had 20 people dealing with a package and each did so with only 98% efficiency, the result would be only a 67% accuracy. No wonder they have invested so heavily in IT and a hard commitment to this level of accuracy and customer satisfaction.
Campbell Soup
Campbell’s Soup has developed a successful vendor-managed inventory (VMI) program with its customers. A VMI program provides continuous replenishment for its customers by monitoring the customer’s inventory levels (physically or via electronic messaging) and makes periodic re-supply decisions regarding order quantities, shipping, and timing. In effect, Campbell Soup has literally taken over the entire replenishment function for its customers. And their customers love them for it. Just think, if you are in the grocery business and your margins are low (they are) and you are dependent on volume to create profit; any way that you can cut back on the time investment dramatically increases that margin. In providing a service Campbell Soup is creating a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.
Conclusion
Take some time to brainstorm how you can create Symbiotic Long-term Relationships in your business. Think about how you can extend your products or services “into” your customer’s business so that their cost to change to another provider is overwhelming. Remember, the most powerful relationship is one in which you and your customer’s business processes are intertwined.
Ask Yourself Some Questions - in each of the four areas of Symbiotic Relationships. Your answers will help give you ideas about what you can do to create or enhance a Symbiotic Long-term Relationship with your customer.
Operational
• Do you have a technology or system or service that you can integrate into your customer’s business? One that would meet their needs and truly assist them?
• Can you take over or manage a portion of your customer’s business operations to free them up for more productive activities, or to save them money in their operations or staffing expenses?
• Can you house or manage your customer’s data or assets at your place of business?
Emotional
• Can you attract, recruit or hire influential people in your industry (i.e. recognized industry experts, high-level executives in big companies, popular service professions) that already have very close relationships with target customers? This can open the door for long-term activity.
• Can you provide your customer with so much support (i.e. advice, attention, help) that they can’t do without you? They wouldn’t want to!
• Can you align your product or service with that of an existing, highly popular product or service? Does this enhance the effectiveness of both products and services and give the customer better service or results.
Social
• Can you get your customer to be a public booster, fan or champion (i.e. provide a public testimonial) for your business?
• Can you create or promote a brand so “cool” or popular, that to not use it would be almost embarrassing, to say nothing of expensive in lost sales and customers?
• Can you create and present an award to recognize your biggest customer(s) (or target prospect) and announce it to the industry?
Financial
• Can you offer a process-based program that requires a large upfront investment that effectively delivers products or services over time?
• Can you offer your significant customers an opportunity to financially invest in your business?
• Can you lock your customer into a long-term contract with penalties (negative incentives) attached for breaking the relationship?
Good selling!
© Copyright 2006 Bob ‘Idea Man’ Hooey All rights Reserved. Used with permission of the author. Excerpt from Bob’s new Book ‘Thinking Beyond the FIRST Sale.’ (due out fall 2004)
Bob ‘Idea Man’ Hooey is a productivity strategist and creativity catalyst who regularly writes for North American Consumer and Trade Journals, on-line magazines and company intranets. He is the author of 9 books and the 48th person in the history of Toastmasters International to earn their coveted professional level Accredited Speaker designation. He is a professional member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and the International Federation for Professional Speakers. Visit his website for additional articles like this one: www.ideaman.net
A Key to Generating More Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Bob Hooey's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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