Existing Customers Are Your Best Business Growth Plan

What’s the best source for bottom line growth in a business?  Existing customers.  Sadly though, it is also often the most overlooked or ignored source of growth.  Why?  Lack of focus.  Lack of structure.  Lack of priority. Lack of a business growth plan.

Most organizations have a sales team that is always hunting new business.  In fact, we call sales people like that ‘Hunters.’  Always looking for a new customer.  Unfortunately, most sales organizations focus too much on new business and not on harvesting existing customers.

Having a Business Growth Plan

A ridiculous majority of organizations have a plan for acquiring new business but they do not have programs in place to make sure that:

1. What the customer was promised or sold is actually what was delivered – on time, on budget and as expected.
2. The customer knows how to use the product or service.
3. The customer knows how to get help.
4. The invoice is simple, clear and aligned with their purchase.
5. There is a team of people that keep in constant contact with the customer, to head off any dissatisfaction immediately.

Instead, they celebrate a new sale, pay the commissions and hold up a sign that says: “Next!”.

Leveraging Existing Customers For Your Business Growth Plan

Get maximum growth by making sure your business has a consistently replicable approach for farming your existing customers.  Why? Because:

1. Customers almost always have more money to spend than you initially get on the first sale.
2. Customers are your best source of feedback for new ideas, usage, and quality issues.
3. Customers talk – a lot; they will tell everyone they know if your product or service sucks and you may never know why they leave you.
4. Customer talk when they are happy; humans have a psychological need to reaffirm their purchase decisions so when they are happy about something, they will tell other people so those audiences will say something like: “Look at you!  Aren’t you smart doing business with…”  they become your best and least expensive adverts.
5. It costs six times more money to get a new customer than it costs to keep an existing one!

Get GREAT at taking care of your existing customers.  Growth will be your reward.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, partner at Incrementa Consulting Inc., #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

The audio version of Bob’s #1 best seller It’s Already Inside is now available on Audible.