Relationship Maintenance

In other articles we have looked at the characteristics and method for loading the sales conveyor. We have looked how to properly dollar value a client over the lifetime we hold a relationship with them as well as looking at how many prospects we need under management to meet our long term sales objectives.

Now we have looked at how to get the relationship established we need to consider how to maintain the relationship in order to optimise their potential as customers or clients.

Maintaining the Relationship
Relationship maintenance is all about communication. Communication that is of high value.

This means you need to solve problems or at least provide information that is useful to the recipient.

Communication that adds value does require some thought but it is important if we are to develop trust and profile with the relationships we have acquired.

We all know a salesperson who works on the 'persistence lowers resistance' method. They just keep coming at you until you buy. Is this methodology cost effective? Look at the salespersons hourly rate and compare that to their sales conversion rate. Now consider the average client spend per rep and it becomes clear that this is often an inefficient and costly way to drive sales.

If you want a steady stream of clients and a predictable sales growth curve relationship management maybe the best way to go.

How can we do this without spending huge amounts of time?

The answer lies in automation. By creating an automated communication program you can add value to many people quickly and cost effectively.

A typical communication program will consist of an e-mail newsletter, industry specific information as well as a program of seminars or workshops.

The most obvious component in a good automated communications program is your database. Good database software is essential in delivering a quality outcome for you.

You need to consider what information you need to collect into your database and what overall purpose it will serve. Some companies use their database software to not only drive their contact programs but also their production commitments and administrative functions.

This is fine however it is important that your communication program runs consistently and to the right people.

How To Develop Your Newsletter
The newsletter often forms the backbone of your relationship maintenance program.
As previously mentioned, your newsletter will only to be successful in creating sales opportunities if it adds value to the recipients.

Your newsletter articles should provide readers with specialised information that enhances their knowledge and skill. Above all else the information needs to be relevant to them. This is why your newsletter email group should be, where possible, a specific target group.

The test of the quality of your newsletter is to ask yourself: Would my customers be prepared to pay for this? If your answer is yes, you have a powerful communications tool.

If you do not have the expertise or time to develop and maintain a quality newsletter you should consider out sourcing this function. Paying for a quality newsletter through out sourcing is ultimately much cheaper than producing a sub-standard result by trying to do it your self.

In most cases outsourcing will cost you less per contact than a typical sales call.

Developing Content
Stories to write in an article: think about the things that are important to your clients. What difficulties, issues and needs do they have? What specialised piece of information will they find valuable to them? Think about what is topical within industry and the community generally that is impacting, or will impact, on them.

A case study. One of the benefits of your newsletter is that it enables potential customers to experience a relationship with you prior to making a purchasing decision.

A case study should introduce a customer, outline a problem they were facing, walk the reader through the steps your company took to solve that problem, and then paint a picture of the end result.