There’s a difference between lost customers and dead customers. When looking for new business, we ignore lost business. A New Jersey-based consulting firm estimates that the closing ratio for new prospects is 5% to 20%, but the potential to regain lost customers is 20% to 40%. Here are five ways to create your own customer win-back program.
1. Sales Management Must Drive the Win-Back Program: Sales managers must identify members of the the lost list and get out of the office and visit them with their sales reps. During these meetings, sales managers should listen, take notes, and summarize the lost customers’ comments to demonstrate they are understood.
2. Establish a System for Tracking: Identifying customers who did business with you last month and are not doing business with you now is vital for beginning your win-back program.
3. Create a Strategy for Revisiting the Lost: Your win-back strategy might include a meeting with top management, a letter from the CEO, and a new needs analysis meeting. This all flows from the face-to-face meeting where you discover the problem and refine your approach.
4. Celebrate Your Win-Backs: Make sure the salesperson gets recognition for the win-back.
5. Document Your Successes: Winning back customers is a process that may take more than the four steps above. Finish by documenting the steps that work, and make them part of your training program.
Manage customer expectations at the beginning of the relationship, not the end. This will make your life as a salesperson much easier and increase your chances of renewing a client.
