Episode #68: Growing Existing Account Sales

You call on your client at their downtown office and you are ushered into one of those typical Japanese meeting rooms. The client joins you and together you enjoy a coffee or green tea and chat about the business. The discussion is about the last sale and the possible next sale. It is usually a discussion about more of the same solution though, rather than a broad ranging talk about all the other possibilities available to the buyer.

We all know that it is much cheaper and more effective to sell to an existing client than to run around and find a new one. Knowing this and doing something about it though, are not the same thing. We make a big effort to grow our databases of people we know. The real issue is not so much who we know, as who wants to know us. Think about it. Who amongst your current clients wants to know you?

Existing clients know us, trust us, like us, and will do business with us. We are the problem though because we pigeonhole our clients into existing narrow bands of business and we never realize the full potential of the relationship. We only supply a small part of the range of solutions we have on offer. We only engage with our clients to a certain not complete extent. What can we do about changing that? Obviously whatever we have been doing isn't working particularly well in terms of broadening the sales relationship.

Using an Opportunity Chart we can map our existing business with our clients and we can also map potential business with non-clients. On the “y” axis of a chart we can list the solutions we provide to customers. Each separate line on the “y” axis nominates one of our solutions which we currently sell to buyers. One the “x” axis in each separate column we list up buyers or potential buyers for our range of solutions. Inside the matrix we have created, we can nominate the current state of the relationship. We use the codes A, B and C to differentiate the chance of a sale taking place. “A” indicates they are already buying from me now, “B” indicates there is a good opportunity here to make a sale and “C” indicates there is a marginal chance of making a sale.

This very simple exercise quickly points out a couple of things. It shows that there are new sales opportunities because we have the solution a potential buyer needs. Often they will be in the same industry facing the same problems of our existing clients. The experience we have already gained with that particular industry gives us insight into the key issues and usually the issues are very common. The starting point of our conversation can be very much better informed and more pointed.

If we are making a cold call for example, during the course of that call we might say, “We have been spending a lot of time with people in your industry and they tell us that retention of good staff is becoming more of an issue than it has been in the past. In fact, they are telling us that it is hurting their ability to grow their businesses. We have been able to help them with this issue and it really has made a big difference. If this is an issue in your company, maybe we could do something similar to help you. I am not sure if this is an issue or if we can help but what do you think? Shall we get together and explore if there are any best practices which will be of assistance to you in your company?”.

This Opportunity Chart is a very frustrating idea. It is very annoying to discover that you are only selling a one or two solutions to the existing buyer, when in fact you could be selling a lot more. Why don’t we sell all of the range of solutions we have now? Part of the reason is we get into a groove, where we are comfortable and the buyer is comfortable and we tend to stick with what we have always been doing. Once you start to branch out, more complexity is released. More people inside the company become involved in the decision making process, there will be additional sign-offs required, additional budgets needed, etc.

This same Opportunity Chart works well with “orphan clients”. These are buyers, who for whatever reason, have stopped buying. We are all busy and if a client doesn’t buy we tend to move on to find the next buyer. If there was a change in personnel on the buyer’s side, the existing relationship may have been compromised by the new staff member. Maybe we did it to ourselves when one of our team left and the client was either not followed up, not followed up well enough or the right chemistry wasn’t there between our substitute staff member and the buyer. The Opportunity Chart shows the logic of our ability to serve the client and we should try and reclaim the relationship. It may be that the trail has run cold and any existing rapport has been lost or diminished. That is too bad, but we should just treat the client as if they were a new buyer albeit one we know quite a lot about.

When we are dealing with existing clients we usually have one strong contact inside their company. This is our Champion. They like us, they support us and they continue to buy from us. This is dangerous though because often when they leave we have nothing. We need to be trying to get our Champion to introduce us to other key people in the company, so that we can bullet proof ourselves from being isolated if our Champion leaves.

This means we are asking them to introduce us to other executives or line managers inside the company and to other staff in their section. They can also help us to map the client company hierarchy as well, so that we get picture of the decision-making structure.

One of the frustrations of selling is that the client is like a black box, and apart from knowing our Champion, we have no clue how things are done over there. We need to get our Champion to help us understand the way things work inside their company. When we know this we can strategise which other key people we need to get to know.

As a simple reality check, get out a piece of paper and create the organizational chart of your existing client. It is scary how little we really know. We have been getting sales, we have been busy with the follow-up and we have moved into a relationship rut without knowing it. We have to “make hay while the sun shines” as the old wisdom suggests and have our Champion educate us now. This is much more preferable to finding ourselves in a stage where we have no one supporting us inside the company, once the Champion disappears.

We have so much untapped potential right there in front of us. We can find new business with non-clients, we can find additional business with existing clients, we can start relationships with multiple Champions within the client firm. We haven’t bothered to date doing any of that, because we didn’t have a formula to make it happen or the thought to do it. Now you have both, so go get it!

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.