Conventional wisdom says your current customers are your best source of new business. Satisfied customers provide opportunities to cross-sell or upsell and can deliver a consistent stream of referrals and positive reviews.
But you can’t take your existing clients for granted. Do your sellers know how to retain your customers and build long-lasting relationships?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do your sales professionals understand their clients’ businesses, competitors, and goals?
- Are your clients or prospects certain your sales team is going to deliver on every commitment, every time, on time, without fail?
- Can they be sure your company will deliver within budget?
- Does your sales team fulfill obligations to clients consistently?
Of course, you’d like to believe that your customers’ responses to these types of questions would be very positive. However, the reality is that there is often a gap between the sales professional who says, “My customers think the world of me,” and the customer whose experience tells a different story. Here’s how to coach your sellers to retain customer loyalty.
A Consultative Selling Approach Helps Retain B2B Customers
Buyers in general want to work with sales professionals they can count on. Simply showing up and consistently delivering will take you far.
As basic and fundamental as this might appear, it’s unfortunately a rarity. So rare, in fact, that, if you do nothing more than meet commitments and deliver your product on time and within budget, you’re going to outperform most of your competition. It’s really that simple.
But retaining loyal customers and building long-term relationships depends on more than doing the minimum. It requires a deep understanding of your client’s business and their personal and professional goals.
This means using a consultative sales approach. Consultative selling is a needs-based approach that focuses on building a relationship with a customer or prospect, understanding their problems, and developing solutions to their challenges. The primary skill is asking open-ended questions and active listening.
Once you’ve done this type of sales discovery, you can better convey the value of your solution for your customer’s specific needs. You can also offer strategic advice that positions you as a resource far beyond the initial sale.
Watch on-demand: Consultative Selling: How to Build Long-lasting Customer Relationships
How to Maintain Customer Loyalty
When your sales professionals are busy working deals and prospecting, they may tend to focus on themselves and their quotas. It’s important to remind them of the importance of focusing on their customers’ issues, objectives, and challenges. This helps them build loyalty, retain customers, and set themselves apart from your competition.
Here are five ways a consultative sales approach helps your sellers reinforce their value and retain customer loyalty.
Build Trust and Credibility
By focusing on understanding the customer’s needs and providing valuable insights rather than pushing for a quick sale, consultative selling establishes the sales professional as a trusted advisor. This trust forms the foundation for a long-term relationship.
Create Tailored Solutions
Through in-depth conversations, thoughtful sales questions, and active listening, sales professionals can develop customized solutions that precisely address the customer’s unique challenges. This personalized approach increases the likelihood of customer satisfaction and continued business.
Demonstrate Long-Term Commitment
Consultative selling shows that the sales professional is invested in the customer’s success beyond just making a sale. This commitment to the customer’s goals fosters loyalty and encourages repeat business.
Identify Additional Opportunities
By maintaining an ongoing dialogue about the customer’s evolving needs and challenges, sales professionals can proactively suggest new products or services that add value. This approach helps expand the relationship and increases the customer’s reliance on the sales professional’s expertise.
Enhance Customer Experience
The collaborative nature of consultative selling makes customers feel heard and valued. This positive experience contributes to higher customer satisfaction, which in turn leads to increased loyalty and potential referrals.
On the surface, this may look simple. But it’s not easy. That’s why so few sellers actually do it. If your team can master these consultative selling strategies, they’ll be on a path apart from your competitors.
5 Tips to Build Customer Loyalty
As a sales leader, your goal is to make your sellers indispensable to your customers. In addition to practicing a consultative approach, here are five easy things your sellers can do to keep your customers happy.
1. Be Smart About Your Commitments
Don’t oversell your time, support, or organizational capabilities. Promise a lot and deliver more.
2. Manage Your Time and Activities Carefully
Don’t get caught in the activity trap. Learn how to prioritize and focus so you can deliver what you promised.
3. Monitor Production and Delivery Schedules
Even if delivery and service aren’t your responsibility, it’s in your best interests to manage them. In your customer’s eyes, you are the organization. They only know your name and face. If there’s a problem, it’s going to reflect on you, regardless of whose “fault” it is. Make sure you can expedite things when needed.
4. Make Time for Current Customers
Schedule time for selling, servicing, and supporting your existing customers. Allocating time for these activities on a regular basis will ensure that you don’t “drop any balls” even when you’re juggling multiple obligations.
5. Manage Your Emotions
Maintain emotional equilibrium in the face of demands, difficulties, and changing priorities. Gain the emotional intelligence to manage frustration and other emotions so they don’t interfere with your ability to focus on your customers.
The benefits of consultative selling are obvious: Your sellers build long-term relationships with their customers and gain opportunities to sell more. A buyer-focused approach can lead to a strong brand, positive reputation, and a higher chance of referrals.
Find out how The Brooks Group IMPACT Selling® training program can help you build loyalty and retain customers.
