Who are your top ten clients? Do you know who they are? Are you doing things to nurture those relationships? Is there anything else you should be doing?
We all know that taking care of our clients is important. It could be argued that all clients are equally important. Certainly from a philosophical view, all people are equally important. But our customers are not equal. The truth is that we all have different levels of customers and they deserve different levels of attention.
If you’re like most salespeople, the 80/20 Rule applies. Eighty percent of your business comes from 20% of your clients. The dollar volume of sales is certainly one way to categorize your clients. Profitability is probably an even better way. You could choose your best clients by the numbers of referrals they give you or how much you enjoy working with them.
Your measure of what makes your top ten clients is up to you. The criteria you choose should clearly define that group. Once you’ve selected your top ten clients, you need to develop a plan to deepen those relationships. How much should you invest into them in both time and money?
From the financial perspective, a good rule of thumb is to choose to invest 15% to 20% of the net profit from a great client back into that relationship. So, if you make $1,000 in net profit from a client in a year, you should spend $150 to $200 a year to develop that relationship further.
If you know what your client enjoys and you should; you can choose a relationship building activity as one way to invest back into the relationship. Playing a round of golf, going to a baseball game or meeting for lunch are all good ways to strengthen the relationship.
While these types of activities are great, you must also define other ways to deepen your “connectivity” with your top ten. A communication or contact plan should be established so you don’t leave anything to chance. Most of us have good intentions to contact our best clients on a regular basis but other things get in the way. Often, it’s our worst clients, who we actually need to fire, that take all of our time.
To develop a contact plan, you need to determine the frequency of contact and the type of contact (phone call, email, note, activity, etc.). Then, you have to schedule the activity. Using CRM software is a easy way to automate the process, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Building stronger and deeper relationships with your top ten clients is probably one of the most important things you can do to grow your business. It will ensure repeat business and the best referrals. So determine your plan and start contacting them today.
Pay Attention To Your Top Ten - To learn more about this author, visit Will Turner's Website.
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Will Turner
(Visit Will's Website)
As President of Dancing Elephants
Achievement Group, Will feels he has the
best job in the galaxy. He loves working
with salespeople and entrepreneurs to
"unblock" themselves and "unlock"
their potential. Will is the first to
admit that he was a reluctant salesperson
for many years. He thought most
salespeople had to be pushy, and he just
wasn't comfortable in that role. He later
discovered that you don't have to act
like a typical salesperson to be a great
salesperson so he created a company to
teach others what he had learned.
Will transitioned a twenty year career in
sales and sales management into his
current position as President of Dancing
Elephants. In addition to facilitating and
presenting, Will is the author of Impact!,
the company's monthly e-newsletter on
sales performance. He is also the
co-creator of the Sales Magnetism program
and the co-author of Six Secrets of Sales
Magnets.
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