Trying to increase your sales? Never under-estimate the power of recommendations by your present customers.
Many years ago I was hired to take over the management of a small business-to-business start-up. We had a staff of two inside sales people, and were growing at a rate of about 40% per year. Also, we were so small that ANYONE who had a few spare moments was expected to cold-call. As a result, we didn't actually know what prompted any specific request for our services. Someone would call in, place an order, and that was that. There were no stats to tell us the source of every client in our database. Shortly thereafter, we implemented a program to track the source of each new customer, just blithely assuming they were the results of good sales efforts.
What a shock to find out the truth. 50% --50%!!!!!!-- arrived at our doorstep because a present customer recommended us. We had no reward program in place. In fact, it never crossed our minds this was even going on. It just happened. Behind our backs.
Take a look at your present customers. Are you taking the time to be sure they are happy with your service or product? Do you follow-up after a purchase? Solicit feedback ( and use it to improve)?
You'd be surprised how willing a satisfied customer may be to recommend you. The first step is to be sure they ARE satisfied.
In later blogposts, I'll talk about specific ways to build on this idea.
Many years ago I was hired to take over the management of a small business-to-business start-up. We had a staff of two inside sales people, and were growing at a rate of about 40% per year. Also, we were so small that ANYONE who had a few spare moments was expected to cold-call. As a result, we didn't actually know what prompted any specific request for our services. Someone would call in, place an order, and that was that. There were no stats to tell us the source of every client in our database. Shortly thereafter, we implemented a program to track the source of each new customer, just blithely assuming they were the results of good sales efforts.
What a shock to find out the truth. 50% --50%!!!!!!-- arrived at our doorstep because a present customer recommended us. We had no reward program in place. In fact, it never crossed our minds this was even going on. It just happened. Behind our backs.
Take a look at your present customers. Are you taking the time to be sure they are happy with your service or product? Do you follow-up after a purchase? Solicit feedback ( and use it to improve)?
You'd be surprised how willing a satisfied customer may be to recommend you. The first step is to be sure they ARE satisfied.
In later blogposts, I'll talk about specific ways to build on this idea.
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