The amount of time and energy, not to mention money that is required to develop a relationship can be quite large, depending on what you are selling. All too often do Sales professionals make a sale and move on to the next potential customer, rather than further cultivating the relationship. The very best Sales professionals recognize – a customer today can be a great source of referrals; maintaining a customer is less expensive than cultivating a new customer; if they purchased today they are likely to purchase again in the future; and a current customer offers the best opportunity to cross-sell other products and services.
In my experience, I have heard multiple excuses for not contacting a current customer. Quick Test - If you ask your Sales Force about their most recent contact with their customers and they respond with any of these statements, you have a problem – My product is intuitive, this customer understands. They have my phone number if there is an issue. I haven’t had a reason to call.
Following is an approach that has been very successful in the past, for a Service provider -
Pick up the phone. Do not send an e-mail. It is very easy to ignore e-mail.
Prior to any call review the customer’s situation.
-Review dates of last service – What occurred?
-Review billing history – payment status.
-Check files to see if all documentation is up to date.
-Ask staff of any recent conversations with this client.
Call the Customer
Hi. My Name is ____________________ from _________________________.
General Customer Satisfaction
I see from our records that we provided service to you on ______________________ at the ___________________ location. Please tell me about this experience.
Were you satisfied? Why or Why not? What could we have done to improve your satisfaction?
We send out a customer satisfaction survey periodically. Your feedback is very important to us. I want to confirm that this survey should be going to the _______________________@ ______________________.
Billing
I see from our records that your current outstanding balance is $_______________.
Either thank the customer for timely payments or ask If there any problem with the billing?
Files
I see from our records that we are missing an updated and accurate Client Information sheet. If you do not have one, please give me your e-mail address and I will send it to you now. But before we hang-up, there are a couple of pieces of information I would like to get from you right now.
Our records show that __________________ is the General Manager, please confirm that this information is still accurate. Our records also show that the phone and e-mail address are _____________________________. Ask this same question for the Controller and Accounts Payable Manager.
I know that we send all invoices to ______________________ at ________________________ e-mail address. Does this process work for you?
After Call
-Document the conversation.
-If a problem was discovered, refer the issue to the appropriate Manager for resolution. Never leave it to the customer to call. Once the issue is resolved, call the customer and discuss the outcome.
By touching these three areas (satisfaction, billing, records) you will discover information about your customer you did not know; as well as identify future issues prior to them becoming a large distraction.
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