One of my firm’s clients is a company that manufactures industrial products and components for factories and heavy industry – a company that has a turnover of hundreds of millions of dollars a year and works with the industrial sector.
The company’s clients are purchase managers and manufacturing managers from big factories, such as food companies. (They are the decision makers who decide whether to purchase from it or from its competitors.)
As part of the consultancy services we provided to them, (which included tours with field sales agents, visits to customers, constructing sales scenarios for employees, listening in on the call center, workshops for sales peoples, strategic consultancy to the CEO and more) we were asked to find additional (and creative) ways to increase the company’s revenues without increasing its marketing expenses.
The Idea: A Customer Get-Together at the Company’s Offices
One of the first ideas we raised was … a get-together with customers at the company’s offices.
The company has a very interesting manufacturing floor (the section of the factory where you can see how the parts are prepared) – “a gift shop” – a training room that has been remodeled and stands shiny-but-empty most of the day, (other than when employees take their lunch there), so we suggested the following to the company’s managers.
Take your 50 best customers – the contact people in the companies you are most connected with, representatives of the companies that generate the greatest revenues for you (In Commandment 5, I will expand on how to identify them) – and invite them for a day-long visit and training.
Give them a tour of the factory and the manufacturing floor, explain to them how you work, get them together in your beautiful new training room with some food and refreshments, and introduce them to each other. The CEO can say a few words and the VP will give a professional review of the field.
From my perspective this is a very obvious and routine idea that I have already implemented successfully with many customers, but to them it sounded absolutely revolutionary (they were even against it at first).
We asked them “How many of your customers have visited your factory or have been at your offices?” Their answer was “none” – which was really astounding for me.
Why Customer Meetings Increase Revenues
Initiating customer meetings increases revenues.
Why?
1️⃣ A new, positive reason to make contact
First, it is an opportunity to connect with customers for an original reason: “I want to invite you to an event” and not for the regular (and annoying) reason of “What’s happening with that price quote I sent you?”
2️⃣ Even those who don’t attend feel valued Second, if you call, say, 50 customers and in practice only 15-20 actually turn up (due to considerations of time and convenience), those who didn’t turn up will give you credit for inviting them and thinking about them.
3️⃣ Attending customers discover things they never knew Third, the 15-20 customers who do turn up will definitely find things out about your company that they didn’t know – your expertise, your professionalism, the number of customers you have. (Remember, you are putting customers from different fields in the same room.)
4️⃣ A perfect setup to close deals and request referrals Fourth, it is an excellent (and initiated) opportunity to ask customers to refer other customers to you, to close additional deals with them, and to make them sign an agreement that has already been delayed for some time. (After all, they are already at your company, after a tour, training, and food and drinks!)
A Move With Only Upside – And Almost No Cost
In other words, a meeting like that can only do good things for you and increase your revenues – short and long term. And the best thing is, it’s a move that doesn’t cost the company anything!
The factory is there, the training room is there, the employees and management are at work anyway. The only thing (perhaps) it does cost is a little management time to call the right people and invite them, and a few hundred dollars for food and drinks.
If It’s So Simple, Why Don’t Companies Do It?
If it’s so simple, why do hardly any businesses and companies do it?
Because they haven’t thought of it. Because it’s difficult for them to implement it. Because they are too busy with “survival” and aren’t able to think outside of the box. Because they are blindly chasing after their next customers (including buying new “leads” for a lot of money) instead of investing in existing customers. And, because they don’t value their “intangible assets,” and don’t know how to make them “tangible” (in terms of revenues).
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