Subscribe to our blog

Your email:

Dirk's New Book From the NAW Institute For Distribution Excellence

 

Click here to learn more about this timely book and to order multiple copies for your sales team

Driving Sales Beyond

Current Articles | RSS Feed RSS Feed

Cal Ripken Jr. and Customer Retention – Making Yourself Invaluable

Posted by Dirk Beveridge on Mon, Apr 06, 2009 @ 04:42 AM
  | Share on Twitter Twitter | Share on Facebook Facebook | Submit to Digg digg it |  Add to delicious  delicious |  Submit to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon |  Share on LinkedIn LinkedIn |  Share On Technorati Technorati | Submit to Reddit reddit 
In a recent presentation, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. said the key to his hall for fame baseball career and record 2,632 consecutive games played with the Baltimore Orioles was that he made himself invaluable.  As he addressed the audience Ripken said:  “Frank Robinson pulled me into his office and said ‘You know how many times I said this was the day I was going to take you down and pull you off the lineup?  You couldn’t hit and I was tired of looking at it.  But I looked at everything else you do, and I didn’t want to replace it.’”

How interesting is that!  Even though Cal Ripken "couldn’t hit" (with a batting average of .276 over 21 seasons), he was invaluable none-the-less to his team, teammates, and manager.

From a business perspective, like Cal’s ability to hit, no company is perfect.  Orders will be late.  A customer service process will be flawed.  Inventory levels will fall short.  Yet it is our job to insure we stay in the line up – to insure customer retention.  

In these times customers are having their doors knocked on by more sales people than ever before.  Sales people are hungry and they have found a renewed interest in prospecting.  You competitors are targeting your business, making a customer retention strategy imperative.  Here are five keys that we have found important to maximizing customer retention:
  1. Focus on what you don’t know – Most sales people fail to bring anything new to the table because of their myopic thinking.  They focus on what they already know about their customer rather than what they don’t know.  Customer retention requires digging deeper for broader understanding of the customers business.
  2. Get deeper within the organization – It is human nature to stay within our comfort zones.  If we have a relationship with the purchaser for example that is where we devote our focus.  Customer retention requires multiple relationships within the account – up and down the chain of responsibility.
  3. Be visible – If the only time the customer sees you is when there is an order to be had, you are at risk.  Visibility is important, multiple touches are important, but in all cases, with each touch you must bring value.
  4. Talk of tomorrow – The past is just that, history.  Customer retention is all about the future and what you and the customer together can accomplish going forward.  Of course we need to remind the customer of the value we have delivered over the course of the relationship, but don’t stop there.  Look to tomorrow and how you can help their business take the next step towards improvement.
  5. Run towards problems – Most sales people run from problems.  Order is late – they blame operations.  Inventory levels are not adequate, they blame purchasing.  Customer retention on the other hand requires that we run towards the problem and take the accountability to make it right. 
Give Me Your Top Three
There are of course more keys to customer retention, and I hope you will share your thoughts.  What are your top three tips for becoming invaluable to your customers?

Tags: , , , ,

Comments

1. Listen - The best way to learn what is really on the customer's mind is to listen. Ask questions that keep hm talking and avoid taking over the ocnversation yourself. Start teh conversation by asking "What can we do for you?" 
 
2. React - when you uncover a need, try to get the answer. Demonstrate that you are interested in the customer's business for more that just "what product can I send to you today"  
 
2. Share successes - Particularly in the curent maket, customers what to hear what is working for other organizatons. There is enough negative out there - share the positives and show how they can work for the dcustomer.
Posted @ Monday, April 06, 2009 6:48 AM by Mike Dahill
1) Know what your competition is "NOT" willing to do - The best way to get in front of the pack is to consistently outshine the others. 
 
 
 
2) Be available - Answering your cell after hours or on weekends will end up being a small detail that has huge impact. 
 
 
 
3) Genuinely care about you customers business - most people can easily tell the difference between someone just selling or someone who actually cares. It may even mean a few sales calls where you don't pitch anything. If you care, you become a friend. People will buy more products from friends than salespeople.
Posted @ Monday, April 06, 2009 7:39 AM by Ben Duggan
Let me elaborate more on what Ben said in his third tip. In this very hungry time, we must give more than lip service to "it's about the relationship." Besides being geniune and empathetic about your customer's business, be present to the relationship. Engage in one simple personal story and watch how the connection grows. And in this case, you may have to be the first to do the engaging. It IS okay to share something about yourself which allows your customer to share something about themselves. People are craving authentic communications - two people talking. It's what solidifies friendship and loyality, referrals and endorsements. You won't even need to ask for it. These are dense times and people want to know you just care about them. Be yourself.
Posted @ Wednesday, April 08, 2009 12:33 AM by Maxine Shapiro
Post Comment
Name
 *
Email
 *
Website (optional)
Comment
 *

Allowed tags: <a> link, <b> bold, <i> italics