IT’S NOT A MATTER OF IF, IT IS JUST A MATTER OF WHEN

How many of you have heard this statement from your boss or sales manager, “It’s not a matter of IF you are going to lose them, it is just a matter of WHEN”. Who is the “THEM” they are usually talking about? You know who it is, YOUR BIGGEST CUSTOMER!


Their thinking is that eventually something will happen that makes the customer make a change.

My thinking is, BOLOGNA! (Oscar Mayer spelling)

Why does this have to happen? I don’t think it does. In my last company, reps sometimes had customers for 10, 20, 30 years or more. I am not talking one here and one there, I am talking most reps that were with the company for awhile, had their group of customers like this.

What is the difference between these reps and this small group of customers and the average rep and the average customer? Let’s try and break it down.

#1 – RELATIONSHIP, to keep a customer over decades you need a better relationship than just seller/buyer.

#2 – PEOPLE, The rep knows all the people in the area of the business they deal with not just the decision maker.

#3 – CHAIN OF COMMAND, The rep knows who needs to be involved in the transactions and makes sure not to leave anyone out.

#4 – KNOW THE BUSINESS, The rep usually knows the business and the applications as well as if not better than the customers.

#5 – INNOVATOR, The rep is consistently bringing the newest ideas and best practices to the customer BEFORE the competition does.

#6 – GO THE EXTRA MILE, The rep does more for the customer than the customer expects.

#7 – SERVICE, The rep doesn’t cut corners or let things slide. The rep is there to make sure everything is running smoothly or the services they are providing are working smoothly.

#8 – DOESN”T MAKE THE CUSTOMER DO THE REPS WORK, The rep does everything. If the customer has a problem the rep handles it and doesn’t have the customer making calls or running errands.

#9 – ALWAYS ACTS PROFESSIONAL, The rep knows that there is a fine line between personal and business relationships and never crosses that line.

#10 - CARES, The rep cares about the business as if they were an employee.

(Each item is a great subject for a future blog; keep your eyes open and check back often to read more about them)

This is quite a list. It is a lot to do and not at all easy. Here is another old saying you have heard before, “I never said it would be easy”

Think about your current customer base. With how many of the customers that you have now are all of the items above in place? WOW, did you just realize you have a lot of work to do, or are you saying to yourself, “Lorin, this is just too easy”. I am going to bet that (I try not to say all, but in this case I really could and be safe) MOST of you are looking at this as a lot of work! Don’t get too depressed, this is a labor of LOVE!

Start by making a list of the first group of customers you know you want to keep for a long time (OK, you want to keep them all, and hopefully will, but you need to start someplace) Next take an honest look at the list and write down the items that you are already doing or you have satisfied with each of the customers on the list. There you have it; you have identified the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Start closing the gap.

When you have filled in all the items on a customer, replace that customer on your list with the next one you want to keep. Over time you will have your group of long term customers.

Lorin