Profiling Your Existing Customers and Expanding The Business Relationship By: Tiffanie Z. Lyon
June 2, 2009
During difficult economic times, it’s especially important to maximize our relationships with existing customers. We’ve all heard and have experienced first hand that developing and nurturing our relationships with current customers is a heck of a lot easier than going out to get new ones, right? The fact is, we DO need to do both, but this post will focus on our current customers and how to maintain and grow the relationship.
DETERMINING YOUR MOST PROFITABLE PRODUCTS/SERVICES:
Many companies have a gold mine of business sitting right in front of them in their existing customer base; we just need to be strategic in how to “mine” the data. The first exercise before we even begin to profile our customers is to look objectively and deeply at our product/service offerings. You might not be able to answer these questions on your own and/or right off the top of your head, but it’s well worth investigating. You may need to get your manager involved.
List out all the key products and services you sell.
Now, go back through the list and circle the products/services, which are most profitable to the company and frankly, to your pocketbook. Assume the “ideal” customer for each of these products/services. This is where you may need assistance from management. Most companies know (or should know) which offerings are the most profitable. It’s just smart business. Clearly, you will offer what makes the most sense to your customers’ needs at the time, but with all else being equal, it’s good to know what makes us the most money.
Now go through the list again focusing on the products you circled. Next to those, write down the traits or characteristics of the IDEAL customer for each. You should do this for ALL the services, but start with the most profitable. Where are these ideal customer located? How much do they spend? What is their age? income? etc.
So now you should have a good idea of what you have to offer and who is an ideal (and profitable) candidate for each one.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS:
Let’s look at our existing customers. Run a report on all the people who are considered your customers-current and past. Customers are customers – past or present. It’s a “warm call” verses a “cold call” when you re-connect with a past customer. They trusted and invested in you and your products in the past.
Next, make note of what the product was/is in which they invested, when did the relationship begin, what are the demographics and characteristics of the customer, etc. Really analyze them. What potential do you see? At first glance, can you get an idea of how you could help them make more money, save money, save time, offer convenience, and/or give them peace of mind or security? These are the key benefits most people are looking for in many products and services (as I’ve mentioned in a previous post).
Hopefully once you do this exercise you will re-familiarize yourself with these past/current customers and you will begin to see some potential for additional business from the active ones and ways in which you can re-kindle the “old” ones. What are you doing to re-capture past business? Are you focusing on your most profitable products/services? Why/why not?
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