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Your Best Prospect is Probably an Old Customer!

 

Salespeople are always looking for NEW customers!  We prospect. We cold call. We attend trade shows. We ask for referrals. We search the internet looking for companies that might need what we sell.

And we SHOULD!

 

You always need new prospects in your pipeline.

 

But before you spend all your time looking for someone who has NEVER bought from you, take a look at the people who HAVE!  Your best prospect might be an OLD CUSTOMER!

Think about it.  An old customer already knows you, they know your company, they know your products. You've already established a relationship and, assuming you took care of them, you've established TRUST!

 

That's a lot further down the road than you are with someone you've never met.

 

So why aren't they buying from you now?

GOOD QUESTION!

• Maybe their needs changed.
• Maybe your contact left the company.
• Maybe a competitor came along with a better price.
• Maybe YOU stopped calling on them!

 

Customers don't always leave because they're unhappy. Sometimes they simply drift away.

Pull up a list of customers who bought from you two, three or five years ago but aren't buying today.

 

Call on them!  Don't call and immediately start pitching.  Ask probing questions and keep your head on a swivel.  Don't necessarily ask questions that will force them to defend their decisions, like: "How is that working out?"  Yikes!  Figure out what they have done, without asking them directly.

 

If they haven't been using your products, they may have made the decision.  If you act like it was a bad decision, they will defend themselves and you will not sell them.  Concentrate on your products and how they might be able to improve how they perform, lower cost, etc

 

If they changed before, they can change again.  Stay focused on your products and what benefits you can provide.  Then close!!!

 

 

 

With an old customer, a lot of the ground work is done!

 

There may have been a very good reason you stopped doing business together. Maybe they weren't profitable. Maybe they didn't pay their bills. Maybe there simply isn't a fit anymore.

 

Take a look at your OLD customers.  Because...

Your Best Prospect Could be an Old Customer!