4 Customer Retention Relationship Building Blocks for What’s Next

A customer retention relationship building block focuses on “What’s Next?” for customer success. Year in and year out.

You are responsible for creating and maintaining these relationships. Just like you are responsible for creating the best conditions to catalyze the initial sale to each customer.

A rock-solid customer retention strategy leverages curated and enhanced relationships. Those relationships always point towards “What’s Next?” for customer success.

Seriously. “What Else?” is there to sales?

Otherwise current customers wonder “So What?” Competitors get their feet in far too many customer doors by casting doubt on how sincerely committed and loyal the current sales rep is to that customer’s success.

Chew on the value of these 4 customer retention relationship building blocks. Incorporate them into your sales strategy. Today.

Customer Retention Relationship Building Block 1 – Focus on “What’s Next?” to build solid customer retention relationships.

So much (far too much?) of the sales process concentrates on landing that first sale. This focus results in sales people with short attention spans for customer retention.

The first sale simply sets the table for “What’s Next?” The initial sale is an appetizer, part of a continuous banquet of information, expertise and strategy enhancing the client’s success.

Building customer retention relationships focuses on continuously whetting customers’ appetites for what follows. The goal? Creating solid confidence that you will have their backs moving forward.

Why continue to stagnate in the appetizer course? That is tactical sales myopia. Instead, focus on the strategic banquet of “What’s Next?”

Customer Retention Relationship Building Block 2 – Create a network of customer retention collaborators.

Identify internal experts in your organization responsible for curating post-sale customer retention relationships. They have lots of knowledge to impart about the Voice of the External Customer. They work in non-sales departments and different professional disciplines.

Make it your sales habit to work with these collaborators. Continuously. Not just when things go wrong with the customer.

Evaluate how a network of customer retention collaborators helps you become more proactive and anticipatory by focusing on “What’s Next?” Be on the leading edge to identify – or prevent – product, equipment and service failures, moving forward.

Consider the value in executing this strategically-oriented customer retention strategy.

Customer Retention Relationship Building Block 3 – Create a customer retention relationship team within each customer’s organization.

Catalyze customer retention relationships within your clients’ organizations. Some customers already have these networks in place. They will appreciate what you bring to their business tables.

However, many customers will have no idea about how to develop and retain even their own customer bases. Let your team of internal customer retention collaborators help you lead a client initiative, by example.

Create enduring value for the customer extending beyond your initial product or service offering.

Customer Retention Relationship Building Block 4 – Connect the dots between the first sale and customer retention.

Create compelling stories showcasing the value of building rock-solid customer retention relationships. Focus on how these relationships create valuable strategic business outcomes for you and for your clients.

Why continue to short-sell yourself and your organization by remaining short-sighted about the value you bring to each client?

Enhancing relationships with the internal collaborators helps build innovative customer retention relationships focused on “What’s Next?” for both of your organizations.

There is no enduring business value created by focusing tactically on landing that first sale. All the collaborative fun and value creation starts post-sale.

Why not become part of the team responsible for creating and maintaining rock-solid customer relationships? What are you waiting for?

Take the next steps.

1. Subscribe to the Sales Aerobics for Engineers® Blog via the red Never Miss An Article box . Receive new posts on customer retention, tech workforce hiring strategy and team collaboration.
2. Download free resources, including White Papers, Study Guides, and Interviews to catalyze your organization’s strategy for retaining customers.
3. Are you an Owner, CEO, VP, decision maker or manager? Book a brief consultation with Babette at info@salesaerobicsforengineers.com . What are you waiting for?

Babette Ten Haken is a management consultant, strategist, speaker and coach focused on customer success for customer retention in the industrial Internet of Things ecosystem. She traverses the interface between human capital strategy for hiring, developing and implementing teams of collaborative technical, engineering, sales and business professionals. She serves manufacturing- and engineering- intensive companies, catalyzing teams to create enduring business outcomes. Babette’s playbook of technical / non-technical collaboration hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon. Visit the Free Resources section of her website for more tools.

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