The selling advantage
A regular account review is an excellent way to keep in touch with your regular customers and let them know you are interested in their well-being. Set up a tickler file to keep track of all the notes about your key accounts and personal items to review before each sales call.
On a regularly scheduled basis (annually, monthly, or semi-annually), hold a formal account review to determine how your product or service is working for that customer. The following guidelines should prove useful for setting up an account review:
- Review the original reason the customer connected; i.e., what it was that brought that customer to you in the first place.
- Determine what their experience was when they first started using your product or service. Did they find it helpful? Were there any problems? Were the problems solved?
- Determine what their experiences were after they had been using your product or service for some time.
- Review their experience with service and questions. Do they like the service they've been getting? Are they ready to expand? Are there additional questions?
- Do a new analysis of their needs. Determine which direction they plan to take in the future.
- Write a new prescription. Determine how you can meet their needs in the future.
