You’ve won the deal, delivered the project, delighted the customer. But don’t let it stop there (or with a simple testimonial) Here are a few things that have worked time and again to build on that first success.
- Make them even happier – maybe handing out a medal (I successfully implemented company X’s CRM solution and no-one was mortally wounded) is going too far, but celebrating a good project is rarer than you think and the right touch can turn everyone on the customer’s team into advocates for life
- Get them into the public eye - speaking at a conference or interviewed by a journalist alongside one of your consultants (don’t forget to send the resulting article direct to your prospects)
- Create a reference pack - not just the standard press release or case study, but the podcast, video, ppt slide
- Build a “drag and drop” proposition – Use this ideal customer as a model to find other organisations and people that match their profile (size, industry, situation): chances are this will uncover a raft of great prospects, then build a creative door-opener to start the conversation about your proposition
- Run a proper reference site event - rather than ask them every month to run a reference visit for a single prospect, hold an event on their site for 15 prospects (they will like it if it raises their profile and also cuts down on the ad-hoc reference requests)
- Make them the foundation of your web 2.0 activity – turn the case study into a proper narrative, war stories and all, that people will really want to read/hear/watch/discuss
- Sell more to them - keep them up to date with great, pertinent content (our research shows that decision-makers look to existing suppliers as their top channel for information), and build a strategy around them to expand out within the account (for a how-to guide, see this post on account-based marketing)
The big thing I’ve learnt is not to be nervous about asking the occasional favour from a satisfied client: it only ever seems to strengthen the relationship, flatter the customer, uncover a new opportunity or help them raise their profile within their profession.
The key to keeping the happy customer happy is to continue that thoughtfulness you apply to bid situations beyond the bid. And don’t forget, a happy customer is a retented customer…
3 comments
Very interesting to read your ideas. There are for sure some that we will be taking up, that I can understand will work quickly. But do you have advice for people struggling to persuade customers to give testimonials? I have heard of some business that now build the case study or press release into their contract – are there less demanding ways?
Hi Mdazz – we’ve certainly seen some clients build the requirement to give a testimonial into their contracts (typically the larger businesses), but it’s a long way from this to some of the techniques Lindsay’s suggested here.
Having it in the contract may even be counter-productive – what’s actually needed is an ongoing effort to build advocacy among clients. Some really great account managers do this naturally, some companies seem to encourage it (usually the smaller ones, in our experience), but others need to put official programmes in place to get customers to the point where they’re willing to help you in these kind of ways.
I appreciate your calling attention to the many ways people can maximize satisfied customers. Most do not leverage this asset as much as they could.
It’s about partnering with customers to publicize the joint success you have achieved. Framing these activities as “joint-promotional opportunities” is key.
Casey
Add comment