One of the most important things you can do to get someone to buy your product or service is to ask them. I was with a client recently who had built a solid business over nearly a decade, providing quality and timely technical services to a small range of business clients. He explained that his primary area of expertise was highly technical, and understood and available from only a small cadre of other specialists who had also mastered this field. His clients needed his specialized services each time they had a project of a certain sort and relied on him for brief but intensive bits of work or to maintain something he had previously created for them. In addition, he was also readily capable to provide more commonly needed services in related areas but those services were available from many providers so he did not focus on these services most of the time. This client then proudly told me all of his clients had come from referrals of existing clients and, with great pride, confided that he had never lost a customer. He provided good work, on schedule and did his best to always give more than was asked of him in excellent customer service. All sounded good until he advised me his revenue was down nearly 50% from the year earlier due to severe cutbacks at his largest customer. Ouch. The most obvious issue was putting ‘too many of his revenue eggs’ in the one basket of his largest customer even though they had reliably and consistently given him good business in the past. He knows he should have reduced their share of his business by adding other clients so their cutbacks were not so devastating to his total business when they finally came. But since he didn’t, he asked for help on what should he do now. Obvious question My first question was intended to point out the obvious, so I asked “What have you been doing to sell more of your various services, including the services readily available from other providers, to existing clients? And when was the last time you asked your clients to proactively refer you to their colleagues, business associates or suppliers? The expected and actual reply was the same — silence. His focus had been to deliver excellent customer service and wait for more business or referrals to just happen. When times were pretty good, his business had grown nicely. But now that times were bad and he was in dire trouble, that laissez faire approach was no longer enough. And when he mentioned that one of his regular clients recently asked him if he could deliver another service, one he was totally qualified to provide but had never brought up to the client before, the remedies were apparent. First, congratulate yourself on your many years of success, good delivery of services and a well earned reputation for excellent customer service. Second, use this ‘holiday time of year’ as a good excuse to visit with (not just talk on the phone) each of your clients, thank them for their past business, request an estimate of how much business they might give you in the coming year ALL WHILE bringing up for the first time all the many services you provide. If they don’t know you provide “Y and Z” in addition to “X”, they are not likely to think about you when their need arises. Yes, it is vital to ensure all your clients know what products or services you provide even if you don’t initially think they want more than just what they are buying from you now. If your customers don’t have enough information for them to make a buying decision, the answer is no. Third, before the check comes over that nice lunch conversation, ask them directly to please refer you to their business associates, colleagues, fellow trade association members, Chamber of Commerce or other networking group, etc. Prepare for them an electronic flyer / e-mail / promotional something and ask them to forward it on to at least five people along with their recommendation on how wonderful you are and that you would like to be considered in the event any of these referrals might need these services. Since he has about ten active clients, five referrals from each would equal fifty proactive referrals and a great way to bond even closer with his existing clients and reach out to potential clients in a way he could not do without their help. In troubled times or if past client mismanagement is causing you revenue shortfalls, now may be a great time to go beyond good customer service and ask your customers to buy. And to ask them to ask their contacts to consider buying from you too. Customer service is not the same as selling. The selling process is not magic but rather a proven way to improve your chances to prosper. Ben Tenn of Tenn Consulting provides small business management consulting with an emphasis on marketing and sales and leads the highly recognized “The Tenn Ways to Prosper” small business seminar series. Tenn, after earning an MBA from UCLA, has enjoyed 35 successful years of business experience as a corporate executive and small business owner including 11 years at The Walt Disney Co., 13 years as a business consultant and Instructor at UCLA Extension. For more information, call (818) 993-8222 or e-mail [email protected] .
