Ed McLaughlin
Last month, the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston was packed with MSPs and office equipment dealers learning and gathering information and resources they need to build, manage and grow their business. Navigate 2016 by Continuum offered an abundance of content in 36 breakout sessions and four keynote addresses, led by more than 70 speakers – many of whom were MSP partners and industry experts.
I was delighted to be invited to impart a little of my 40 years of experience in the information and imaging industries, including my experience as Sharp president, on attendees. Over the decades, we’ve experienced so many industry changes including the switch from a transactional business to a services business. However, one thing that has remained constant over the years is the importance of retaining accounts and increasing sales within current accounts. It cannot be overemphasized for growing your business. And, you must increase and grow your business –maintaining flat growth will eventually lead to the dealership’s demise.
At the forefront of account management should be identifying risks in your accounts with the understanding that all accounts are at risk about 85 percent of the time. Understanding what your customers want – strong operations and results, timely service as well as service that is cost competitive – is crucial to account retention. Businesses win new sales through competitive financial packages, demonstrated expertise and the big one – strong relationships. Accounts remain strong with consistent quality, effective support and highly valued relationships. The number one reason for winning renewals is a strong relationship.
Did I mention the importance of the dealer-client relationship?
If all those bases are covered, what could possibly go wrong?
For one, complacency and lack of proactive support – I’ve seen it too many times. If the customer doesn’t perceive the value that you provide and the quality as consistent, losing the account is a real possibility. And I’ve seen damage done to accounts many times because of a lack of a strategic relationship. The worst part is if you aren’t actively involved in the account, nurturing the relationship, you won’t see it coming.
While at Sharp years ago, I thought we were doing a great job for a client, shipping product to them faster than what the contract outlined. We were required to ship in 30 days, and we were meeting 15 days. We thought that was great. It was shocking to walk into the client’s office and see that he was very unhappy. We weren’t shipping close to the schedule of a computer company that was meeting their needs in just days. If we had been in front of the client more frequently, we would have realized sooner. We had no idea because we weren’t being proactive with the relationship.
How do you avoid being at risk with clients?
With so much technology available to us today and faster communication, there is no replacement for the face-to-face meeting with customers. Visit them in person – often. It’s the best way to learn about the client’s requirements, to build a mutual relationship and to cultivate the value you deliver to them on a daily basis. But it shouldn’t just be the account rep’s job. It’s important to build senior executive involvement – addressing all levels of the client’s organization. In my Sharp delivery story, we had done monthly account reviews, but I had not had a face-to-face meeting at the executive level in nine months.
It’s important that visibility into accounts happens from different angles, at every level. Quarterly account reviews are crucial – commit to them. Establish a system to archive and share ideas – maintaining your CRM is essential. So, insist on it.
By building solid relationships with clients and maintaining them, they come to rely on your dealership as much as you rely on them to grow your business. It’s a win-win.
