Lost business does not necessarily mean lost forever. Many salespeople unfortunately neglect this lucrative source of new business. I say new because, if you learn to treat these past customers as brand new prospects, you may just regain their business. There are a number of reasons why customers leave you. Some of them are:
1. They were wooed away by a competitor offering better prices, service or some outlandish promises.
2. Management in the organization has changed, and they are not aware of the strengths of your services
or products. This information was most likely not passed on to them by their predecessor.
3. You or your organization failed to deliver as promised.
4. You or your organization let trust and/or respect erode in the relationship.
5. There is some hidden agenda reason – they have a relative in the business, have lost buying authority,
are leaving their organization for another position.
6. There were serious breakdowns in communication, expectations or perceptions between your
organization and your client.
There are others, but these are some of the ones you may be able to do something about.
What can you do to regain this business?
· First you must learn the REAL reason why the customer left in the first place. This might require a little
digging or detective work on your part.
· You have to be willing to begin again with a clean slate, leaving your old baggage behind.
· It is important to remember that you need to work as hard to keep the business as you did to get it.
· You must re-assess where you went wrong. Was it a pricing issue, a service issue, a quality issue, a
distribution issue, arrogance, ignorance, lack of interest in keeping the business, or some other major or
minor mistake by you, another department or another member of your management team?
· You must have a 'keep in touch' strategy with previous customers whether routine telephone calls,
emails, letters or some other way of letting them you are still interested in their business.
· Don't make assumptions that once the business is lost it is lost forever.
Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, relationship, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his website at http://www.timconnor.com |
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