It’s a good feeling when we win a new customer. It can often represent months (or years!) of prospecting and relationship building and as we know acquisition of brand new customers can be very challenging.
Having achieved the first sale, it is common for businesses to never extend the relationship further, thus retaining the customer as a ‘one-product relationship.
This represents substantial missed opportunities as new customers can be a great source of new business through:
- Sale of additional products or solutions.
- Introductions to other parts of their business.
- Referrals to other potential customers.
We have found that the second point, in particular, is a highly neglected source of new business. Having ‘earnt your stripes’ it is a logical next step to make further inroads – to get wider and deeper – into that customer. Further, internal referrals will generally carry more weight than those from outside.
You have delighted your customer by providing great solutions to meet their needs and you’ve followed this up with great levels of service. This has given you the right to seek to do this across their business.
Do your research, find out who you need to talk to and then ask your customer to refer you to their colleague. Then go through your sales and service cycle and seek further referrals. And watch your business grow!