Think growth only comes from new clients? Think again.
Something I regularly stand on my soapbox about is the fact that growth doesn’t have to come from acquiring NEW clients. There is a bank of warm leads sitting there with a budget that could be spent with your business. Whether it’s an automatic assumption that new business = working with new businesses, or existing clients are being overlooked, it’s a missed opportunity and lost revenue (and in many cases, quite a sizeable loss).
The beauty of marketing to your existing clients is that they already know, like and trust you. Taking an additional service from a supplier they already have a relationship with carries far less risk than starting from scratch with someone new. Commercially, it makes sense too, as research shows it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, and the probability of selling to an existing client is 60–70%, compared to just 5–20% for a new prospect. With the existing customer strengthened by an additional service, they are also more likely to stay with you for longer.
A costly assumption.
Assuming that your existing customers understand all the services you offer is a common mistake to make. Just like you, they are busy people – driving their own businesses forward and making multiple decisions every day. They began working with you to solve one specific problem. They won’t automatically think of you as a valid solution for something else.
This is why it’s important to have processes in place that keep those conversations open between you and your client, so you can understand the other needs they have and identify opportunities to market relevant services to them. The risk is that if you don’t, your competitors could establish their own relationship with your client. Not only is that lost revenue, it’s potentially a lost client too.
What data do you already have to support marketing to your existing customers?
It’s important to understand whether you have the right data to support cross-sell campaigns to your existing clients. No client wants to be sold a service they already take from you. Equally, they don’t want to be targeted with a service that is irrelevant to them.
In an ideal world, you’ll have data that allows you to filter your existing client base against the ideal customer profile of the service you want to market. That might be the size of business, geography, turnover, or industry, for example.
Some businesses will have customer relationship management (CRM) systems that support this level of segmentation, but if you don’t, that’s OK. Starting with a simple spreadsheet of customers and manually reviewing the services they do and don’t take from you can tell you a lot. It’s a starting point for a conversation with them.
If you do have a more complex CRM system, and that data isn’t being used for cross-sell campaigns, then that’s a huge, wasted opportunity. You are sitting on a goldmine!
Speaking to the right customer about the right service.
The key to cross-selling to existing customers is not to sell ALL the services to EVERY client. You’ll get a better result from targeting smaller segments of customers with a specific message about the service you want to upsell. Even if there are lots of additional services that are relevant to them, focus on one initially. Trying to sell everything to everyone dilutes the message and makes it feel generic.
Start with a service that naturally complements the existing services they have, or choose to boost sales of your most profitable service. Remember that, just like your prospects, only 5% of your clients will be in active buying mode when your message lands. This is known as the 95/5 rule. If a client doesn’t immediately respond, it doesn’t mean the campaign failed. They probably aren’t ready to say yes. The important thing is that you have started a conversation about an additional service.
Do you have an internal education gap?
The opportunity to cross-sell and upsell shouldn’t just sit with the senior directors. If you invest time in educating junior and client-facing team members, you’ll find that more of these additional sales opportunities come to light. To do that, the teams need to understand all the services you offer and the language clients might use to indicate they have another problem that you can help with. They also need good client service training to help them feel confident in opening up those conversations.
Because your clients will not understand all the services you offer and they are unlikely to raise their hand proactively and say, “This is a challenge I have, can your firm help me with it?” It’s about helping the team ask the right questions in a relaxed conversation, to listen, and to know the right process for sharing what they’ve identified as a new revenue opportunity. Without a clear and simple process of who to tell and how to pass it on, the insight quickly gets lost in a busy week and the moment passes.
Maintaining visibility for when clients are ready.
Having a strategy for using regular client communications to highlight relevant services over time, whether that’s newsletters, updates or project check-ins, is an effective way to keep other services visible, in a non-salesy way. Done in the right way, your clients won’t feel bombarded with sales messages – but a message might land at the right time and trigger that need for a conversation with you.
Don’t overlook that growth gold.
You’ve already invested time and energy in your existing clients, and they are your warmest growth opportunity. Securing that additional revenue still requires a plan, even if it’s a simple one. Whether you’re starting with a spreadsheet and a newsletter or building something more structured, the first step is the same: stop assuming your clients know what else you can do for them.
Looking for support to help you get started?
If this sounds like a growth opportunity your business is missing out on, let’s have a chat. We can explore whether one of my power hours will give you the advice you need to make a sensible start. If you need more hands-on support, we can look at that too.
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