“The real money is made selling more to existing customers”. – Yaro Starak
Existing customers who are happy and profitable are possibly the best and most potent assets any company can hope to gain. It is the onus of a company to find ways to sell more to such customers to increase revenue, enhance profitability, and convert them to vocal brand ambassadors. As everyone in business knows, gaining new customers is a necessity. However, the most predictable and profitable means of sales, revenue and profits are the long-standing customers of a company. These existing customers have been with your company, know how it works and have built trust with it – they would be more willing to take risks with your company. Existing customers spend at least 67% more than new ones, who require at least 5 to 10 times more effort and resources to start doing business. While putting efforts to marketing for new customers – ensure that, your customer service is top class to build business with your existing customers.
Existing customers will buy more simply because they know the value they would gain by doing so. However, no company must become complacent when dealing with them – they could go from being profitable to at-risk customers in a single instance. Treat your existing customers with respect and value – they would be more than willing to let others know about their happy experiences, and the company would gain other customers, without any effort. Customers buy and continue to buy for a number of reasons – both emotional and rational. It is the onus of the company to uncover these reasons if they are to sell more to their current customers and attract potential ones.
Not all existing customers however, would be profitable. Some may be in the pool of customers simply to avail benefits or because they would not want to make the effort to find another service provider. Such customers could prove to be a drain on a company’s resources – but before finding ways to let them go, it would be prudent to explore methods to gain more by getting them to buy more and repeatedly. Ensure that these existing customers find value in every interaction with your company. Contribute to their business through your knowledge, expertise, and experience and give them value-added information, which they can use to advantage. By increasing the value of the association for them, your current customers can potentially bring limitless benefits – soaring reputation, referrals, repeat business and whole gamut of advantages.
Customers now have a lot more choices in terms of companies and products available for them in the market. They do not need to stay with a company if they do not get what they want but for any company this could mean losing their most precious asset – profitable existing customers. It would be obvious therefore, that companies should make it attractive and easy for existing customers to stay with them for a long time. A company must look at consistently improving itself – better customer service, faster turnaround and delivery, easier ordering and payment methods, unique and creative products, best in class benefits and other such features that would keep existing customers glued to the company by choice.
The value your company seeks to provide existing customers must be from their perspective. There would be no point coming up with products or services that your existing customers do not want or need. It would be better to ask them directly what your company can do to improve and what they believe would be the ideal product / solution to their current needs and business. Companies that can deliver customized and unique solutions for their existing customers would become preferred partners and would be able to avoid the risk of losing customers. It all comes down to how effective a company is in proactively giving their existing customers what they want, when they want and how they want. Such superior service and care would not only retain existing customers, but would also gain a reputation for the company thereby being able to attract more customers, investors, and the best talent in the market.
Among the top reasons that customers remain with a company is the feeling of trust and having a special relationship with the company. It is the job of the company to make and sustain such a relationship – make your existing customers feel special, welcome, and valued. The more consistently a company can do this, the more engaged and loyal existing customers would become – eventually turning into the best brand ambassadors. Ensure that serving your existing customers well is something that everyone in the company understands – customer service must not be the sole responsibility of the service teams. Each person must strive to do whatever she or he can within their job role to make the lives of the existing customers easier such that the efforts make to sell more to them, bear fruit on a sustained basis.
A company must extend support and help to existing customers even beyond the scope of the business ‘deal’. By being of service to them in a variety of ways, a company would be in a better position to not only sell more but even charge incrementally higher prices from its existing customers. Draw your existing customers close to you by remembering things of significance to them. Thank them publicly, acknowledge their achievement and your own on visible platforms, provide information which could be useful for the customers of your existing customers – by reaching out and touching all aspects of their life, a company would gain more from their existing customers. Happy existing customers would soon double up as highly effective sales people – gaining more business, customers and a better reputation for the company.
We have said several times, that the way customers view a company is highly subjective and depends on their current needs, expectations, and requirements. Hence, if an existing customer seems happy currently with their association with the company, it does not necessarily mean that this would continue. Changes in needs and situations, could take a satisfied existing customer to becoming one of the at-risk existing customers. A company must constantly monitor and analyse every individual relationship with their existing customers and promptly remove any problems or roadblocks. Such pre-emptive behaviour would find favour with existing customers, who would more amenable to buy more from a company that understands its needs without them having to explain them. It is essential to remember that the relationship with existing customers must never get to a point, where they are in the relationship because they currently do not have the incentive to change or have not found a ‘partner’ providing similar offerings. It would be a matter of time (and sooner than a company believes) before they exit the relationship, without a word and never return.
The better your company understands and knows its existing customers, the more effectively it can sell to them. Your company would have reasons to support their sales, the prices, and would be in control of the terms of the business too. The better a company can meet the expectations of their customers the easier it would be to gain from the association – by selling more and keeping the existing customers for longer. Let your customers know and believe that doing business with your company is a smart decision for more reasons than they know. Show them that strengthening the relationship would be beneficial to them, their business and even their customers – doing so will ensure that your company would be able to sell more to the current set of customers. When trying to generate an increase in sales on a sustained basis, the first set of people is your company’s existing customers – there is more chance of success with lower investments of money and other resources.
