The idea that sales professionals should focus time and energy on building customer relationships seems straightforward, perhaps obvious. Yet in practice, most sales organizations don’t give this priority the emphasis it deserves. This is in part due to the transaction-based culture of traditional sales, where management measures sales effectiveness by focusing on how many deals have closed this week, and how many hot leads are in the pipeline.
Although it is important to measure results, it is equally as important to create a sales culture that supports more effective customer relationship development. The question is what does that look like for your company, and how can you implement and measure it. Here are four examples of ways in which you can empower your team to develop deeper customer relationships that also help drive near-term sales results:
1. Create Customer VIP Experiences
When is the last time you invited key customers to a special briefing event, or to a client appreciation breakfast? How can you provide added benefits to client accounts as a way of saying ‘thank you’ or in order to further advance their business goals? Equipping your sales team with these opportunities gives them powerful tools for laying groundwork that can generate referrals and valuable customer introductions. Remember, the people most likely to know tomorrow’s prospect is often today’s customer.
2. Engage Customers in Active Feedback
Did you know that just the process of asking customers for feedback on your products or services automatically generates increased loyalty? That’s right — customers immediately feel more loyal to and engaged with brands when the company asks them for feedback, insights, ideas or suggestions. Give your inside and outside sales teams a specific process for doing this and reward customers that complete the process with additional benefits. Then challenge your sales staff to take one or two key insights from their customers and find ways to implement them.
3. Give Outside Sales a Reason to Visit
We all know that it’s imperative that outside sales reps spend the vast majority of their time making in-person visits to new prospects, and not spending too much time with existing accounts. However, spending some time with current customers — and making sure that the time spent is effective — can provide outstanding results. The key is the purpose for the visit. This is where an effective strategy can go a long way. Make sure that when you are preparing to roll out new products or services, you give your team a chance to preview it with their best accounts.
When the company is trying to land a critical prospect, have your reps connect with their satisfied clients in the same field who can offer a critical reference. Consider not only engaging customers in focus groups and roundtables, but in hosting these events at some of your client locations, where they can give tours to their peers and show off how your solutions are helping them achieve success.
4. Harness Customers in Marketing and Social Media
The best way to grow your social media footprint is to have other people promoting and sharing your content. The best people to do that are your satisfied customers. Interview your customers for case studies, then go back and do industry profiles or interviews. Capture their social media information and promote their successes through your social media accounts. Stay in-tune with their news, events and achievements and share it in a customer portal or through a client eNewsletter. And consider interviewing your best accounts on video or audio so they feel like VIPs and share their message as dynamically as possible.
Implementing one or more of these strategies will give you a head-start in driving more effective customer relationships, and giving your sales team dynamic and powerful reasons to maintain strong alliances with key accounts as you seek to drive revenue growth through effective sales activities.