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Existing Clients Make The Best Prospects

Written by: Meridith Elliott Powell

Article Overview: Want to make selling easy? Want to increase your number of closed sales, enjoy the selling process and have less stress? Then fill your prospect list with your existing customers.

Existing Clients Make The Best Prospects

Let me share a secret - the easiest prospects to sell to already buy from you. The best prospects are your existing clients, and the only reason they are not buying more is because you are not selling. If you want to make selling "easy" (I am all about making things easy) then sell deeper, wider and more to your existing clients. I know it sounds crazy, but most sales people sell one product or service to a prospect then move on to the next. Leaving the total needs of the prospect unmet, and the door wide open for their competitors to come in and steal the relationship.

Take a moment, and sit down right now, pull out a pen and make list of all the products and services you offer. Then make a list of your top thirty customers. Then match the products or services they need to the number they buy from you. I will bet, for most of us, the number of needs they have far outweighs the number of products and services they buy from you. Ouch! Wait - there is good news! It is not too late - you have just created a great prospect list. One that is going to be easy to sell. Again, I love easy!

First, these "prospects" already know your company and consider themselves your customer. Two, they already know you and would welcome a call from you. Three, they have purchased from you in the past, and most likely trust and value what you tell them - closing the next deal should be a piece of cake!

Why create a prospect list full of your existing customers?

There are a number of reasons, but here are the best:

• One, your bottom line. My personal favorite! It is expensive to attract new customers and there is no guarantee you will land their business. The cost of attracting new customers can be as high as seven to nine times as expensive as to sell to an existing client. In addition, by selling more to existing clients you are assured that they will remain your customers. The more products and services they buy, the deeper the relationship, the deeper the relationship the less likelihood they will move their business. This is the difference between production and growth. Production is nice, but it does not sustain the company!
• Two, your personal fear or distaste for cold calling. For most sales people, the most stressful part of the call is the beginning. Getting in the door and establishing the relationship. Making that first sale. With existing clients that part is over. You already did all the hard work, why not sit back and reap the rewards. Why not make selling easier by calling on your existing clients? Let your competitors cold call, let them get stressed out and burned out, you call on your existing customers.
• Three, your reputation. As a sales person your customers place their trust in you. If you continue to share information with them and offer them products and services that benefit their business that trust and value will grow. You will move from just their sales person to their advocate and trusted advisor. Plus, there is nothing more embarrassing for a sales person, then to have a customer tell you that one of your competitors offered them a product (that you offer yourself) that would benefit their business, and they wonder why you never mentioned it.
• Four, because they will start to call you. The better you take care of your existing customers, the better your reputation. The better your reputation, the more your customers will call you. They will actually be trained to do that. You will have taught them that when they have a need it is you they need to work with to fill it. Why shouldn't they, you seem to have all the answers. Then, this gets even easier, they start telling their friends, their neighbors, perfect strangers to call you. Next thing you know you show up at the office everyday, and you are covered in business all without making a single sales call. Life is good!

The top half of your prospect list should be filled with your existing customers. There is "gold" in those relationships, and it is your decision whether you want to hit the jackpot or whether you want to leave it all on the table for your competitor! If you want to turn your prospects into customers, then start by calling on your existing customers.

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Article Tags: business sales strategies, existing clients, prospects, sell more, selling strategies



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Re: Email Etiquette - [quote="jvprosperity":24jznj58] The P.S. suggestion is good but it depends on the type of communication (e.g. Autoresponder series verses one off emails to Clients or Prospects)[/quote:24jznj58] Andy, You are right. I was mainly referring to Auto Responder emails. To end a normal email, I attach signatures. Takuya
Simple way to avoid Cold Calling - Gary, A chiropractor I work with hates cold calling (me too!) and he uses a technique to warm people up to using his services - it's so simple! In Sales your dealing with 3 pools of people: 1. Strangers 2. Prospects 3. Returning Customers You need to move people from one pool to the next. We'll concentrate on #1 and #2 as it's most relevant to your question. My Clients does the following (you just have to tailor it to your situation - be creative). My Client (we'll call him Bob) Bob leverages his time and resources to only get people that need his offer (pain relief) to put their hand up. Dealing with Strangers can get expensive and they don't like to be told what to do as they have no trust or relationship built with him. So to get Strangers to put their hands up he writes up an offer with a free report on a particular pain relief - let's say lower back pain (note: he can simply just change lower back pain to neck pain and have a new report). and uses multiple marketing vehicles to promote the Free report - magazines, newspaper, forums, postcards, private clinics etc. The only people picking up this information are the very people Bob would like as customers as they have Lower back pain. Bob's Free report ends with him stating his services and includes a Free in-house Consultation with no obligation. You'd be surprised at how easily Bob converts Strangers into Prospects. Note: They become prospects when they ask for the Free Guide and in exchange provide their contact details. This gives Bob unlimited opportunity to contact them for the Free in-house consultation with no obligation to continue using him. At this stage Bob's ability to close the sale lies in his office providing good customer service, Bob's ability to help the prospect and provide value at the free in-house consultation. Notice, he hasn't had to pick up the phone to COLD-CALL his Stranger pool or his Prospect pool. Hope that example helps to increase your prospecting!
Re: Who Did You Learn Most From and Why? - Hi Martin, You missed out on the most essential community that helps you grow - Your Clients. Well, I believe that my Initial Clients have been the ones who have given me the moments of 'aha' in my business. They have stood by me even when I was a starter and that has helped me shape and build my stand. They have helped me grow as an entrepreneur, learn to have loads of patience and make the most of what comes across. They have also helped me to strengthen me as a person. btw, personally speaking, my Grandfather always kept me on track and lent me emotional support when I was down in any matter - be it business or otherwise.
20% increase - One of my businesses uses a system to help business owners manage customer relationships and encourage more referrals. I'm finding that this economy is making business owners take a second look at their business and it's assets (aka customers) to see how they can leverage them. Make those Customers (one-time sale) into Clients (repeat sales). I'm finding them more open to having this discussion with me and the results are speaking for itself. Everyone I've worked with so far has seen at least a 20% increase in sales or referrals within 4-6 months all done by managing an existing relationship.
Re: Quote of the Day - "The only people witho - Thanks for sharing this Evan, there are some very powerful quotes in there, I particularly like this one:- You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully. regards, Mal.


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