The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

A colleague was recently lamenting the proliferation of competition he was now facing. “Customers have so little loyalty anymore. They jump around from one new thing to another, and the result is that they have a much less cohesive operation and lack overall direction.” His business is sales and sales management for a digital and legacy media organization, but his problem is not unique. All kinds of businesses are facing all kinds of new competitors… and it is likely that you, too—whatever your business—are finding loyalty more difficult to come by.

When you find yourself in this “Squirrel!” sales environment, it’s important that your degree of objectivity prevails over your level of frustration. That new company you see as an emerging threat or competitor? Your customer sees it as a new option. When that option is attractive to your customer, the reasons are usually pretty simple. Some of these issues you absolutely can control, some of them you can’t. And sometimes, these sales challenges are found somewhere in the middle of the influence spectrum, meaning you are neither in control… or without it. So why do customers look past you, and beyond your product line?

A couple weeks ago, we were talking internally about the sales process. The topic of proposals came up, and the conversation became spirited.

I asked several colleagues,

What's the one thing you should always include in a winning proposal?

and they came back with amazing answers. These are tried and true solutions from winning sales consultants, so keep this list handy!

1. A Dotted Line

This one might sound obvious,

Too often, we define “new business” as the business a competitor once had until we stole it. Here’s the bad news: They often think of new business the same way. Thus, competitors engage in a constant war of churn, where quite often there really is no “new business” at all; just an exchange or recycling of clients as if sales was nothing more than a tennis match, and the client is the ball.

Can you have too much emphasis on new business?

I submit that’s not a crazy question. There’s a scenario, more common than you think, where an excessive emphasis on finding new clients can mask a significant problem growing inside your organization. Ask yourself: What role is that new business playing? Is it fueling your sharp growth curve? If so, congratulations.

Too often, the answer is that new business is playing a very different role—that new clients are coming in the front door just fast enough to replace those who are leaving by the back door. The emphasis on new business development in your organization might be coming at a high cost—not placing sufficient emphasis on satisfying, retaining, and growing your existing accounts.

Or you might not even be breaking even: You could be working harder than ever to find new revenue that is failing even to cover the losses you’re experiencing due to attrition. It reminds me of the classic line from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”

More than anything else, I write about industry, economic, and consumer trends at The Marketing Mind Blog. But there is one trend that deserves some attention here on this sales-oriented blog: 2014 has been the best year for job growth since 1999. That’s according to a story from CNN Money, but it’s not hard to find other evidence of solid employment growth.

In sales we often feel that if a prospect doesn’t buy from us we’ve somehow failed. Some sales managers reinforce this belief. The truth is that not all prospects are created equally. As with your active clients, some prospects are clearly better than others.

Last week, my daughter-in-law arrived at our house with two really enthusiastic grandkids after a stop at the mall. My granddaughter was carrying a brand new Build-a-Bear. And my grandson was all fired up about a new bag of Legos he was allowed to buy… and couldn’t wait for help from Grandpa in building something really cool.

Markets ebb and flow, and it seems a greater number of variables than ever before can impact one’s performance in a quarter or a year. Certainly there are things that happen beyond your control, so let’s look at what’s within your control—what you can do to ensure that you will deliver on your sales quota this year?

1. Get Closer To Your Key Accounts

Unless you are in a business where you sell something once and move on, the work you do on behalf of your Key Accounts has more impact than anything else you can do when it comes to delivering your quota. You’ve heard of the Pareto Principle, aka the 80/20 rule. It’s true. In most businesses, between 75% and 80% of the revenue comes from only 25% of the customers they do business with. And it’s very likely true for your own book of business. The last thing you want to do is lose a Key Account, and most of them have untapped potential for new business.

So for each of your Key customers you should set a goal to renew your needs analysis at least quarterly, perhaps more often. New needs require new solutions, so knowing those changing needs helps make sure you are part of each new solution. Work to increase the number of decision influencers with whom you have contact within the account. Not only does this help you keep your current business in place, but also new influencers often have new problems that need to be addressed. Can you help?

During the holiday season, most of you consumed more than your typical share of desserts and goodies. That reminds me of something I think about whenever I cut into my holiday pie or cake: