Lightning Round: Top 10 Ways to Retain Customers
Question: Sierra from Toronto, Canada asks, “I am in equipment financing sales and in the last year we have grown a lot— some organic, most through acquisition. While this has been exciting, it feels like the demands on us as salespeople are doing nothing but expanding. I used to be focused on mostly new sales, but now they wants us to find new business, grow existing accounts and above all keep our retention rates high. How am I supposed to do all that?”
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The following transcript of this episode was generated by AI. Semantic errors may occur.
[00:00] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Hey, this is Meredith Elliott Powell and you know what time it is. It is 8 am Eastern Saturday morning time for SalesLogic Mark. Everybody’s probably still recovering from their food comatose, but we are ready to talk sales. We got a good show today. What’s on tap?
[00:16] – Mark Hunter (Host)
We are a good show. We’re going to talk about how do you juggle account management while also being charged with finding new leads. Hey, our lightning round top 10 ways to retain customers. Ooh, this is going to be good. We’ve got a great topic, so hey, let’s rock and roll.
[00:52] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
All right, welcome back to Sales Logic, the show where we discuss all the steps that you need to know to sell more effectively in today’s marketplace. Mark, today we’re going to be talking about probably one of the toughest things that salespeople have to deal with, whether it’s a salesperson, business owner, whoever you are, it is the juggling of finding the business, caring for the business, deepening the relationship and really striking that balance. I do want to remind the audience that we get these topics, we get these questions from you. So if you have a question, go to saleslogicpodcastcom, chime in, we’ll feature you here. So, mark, where do we want to start today?
[01:31] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Well, here’s the deal. I mean an account management. I remember years ago I was an account manager and used to be charged with also finding new leads. I work with a lot of companies today that are in that, and balancing the two is extremely difficult. We’ve got a question that comes from Toronto, canada. I’ll get to that in a bit because it explains it so well. But here’s the deal. How do you juggle when your manager is beating you up to take care of existing accounts because you can’t lose them? You don’t want to lose them, and yet they never see what you don’t do out there prospecting. I think management creates this problem where account managers can’t figure out what to do.
[02:08] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
I would agree with that and I think, first of all, this is going to be a little controversial. But quit listening to your manager. Pay attention to your goals. How you get to your goal is your business, and so figure out what the goal is and hit the goal. I used to call this one back when I was a sales manager. I used to. I used to call this losing the battle in an effort to win the war, and I told my team we’re going to lose the battle. I don’t care what corporate is yelling at us to do. Keep your eye on the ultimate goal because, at the end of the day, that is all that they care about. So, number one stop being pulled in a million different directions. Create your strategy between new accounts and existing relationships as to how you’re going to achieve your goal and stick to your plan.
[02:56] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Boy. I’ll tell you what that is so key. In fact, that really chimes in well with what the sales logic brain came back with and that was one of the ideas was you have to treat prospecting as a lifestyle. You have got to own it and make it part of everything that you do, while also retaining existing customers. But you’ve got. If you don’t treat it as a lifestyle, you will be knee-jerk to only taking care of existing customers.
[03:22] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I would also say that you know you need to. Your prospect list needs to be part prospects and part existing customers. I mean you need to look at your existing customers, those accounts that you are managing, and decide which ones you are going to focus on to deepen relationships. So really go back to your ideal avatar and pay attention to which of your existing customers fit that profile.
[03:53] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Well, because if you look at your existing customers, there’s always going to be upside. There’s always going to be additional opportunities. The upside may come from referrals, and this is so key because, again, with existing customers, are you spending enough time developing additional relationships? And this is so key because those additional relationships and this is where a lot of account managers get themselves into trouble they allow themselves to be only focused on their immediate buyer, their immediate buyer. I remember I used to have that problem early on. I was stuck in that and, as a result, I wasn’t getting additional opportunities. Ask yourself, for every million dollars of business you get, or two million dollars of business or whatever the number is, that creates, that necessitates an additional relationship that you have to have with that existing account. Now, that does not take you away from needing to prospect. What this does is it begins to put into perspective how you need to balance your time.
[04:52] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Mark, I want to make sure I understand. When you’re saying an additional relationship, are you saying that you need to look for another opportunity within that business, another connection?
[05:01] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Yes, yes, In other words, you know, in other words, so you may have a major account, that major account, you better have more relationships in that account than you do a smaller account, you see. So you kind of create some sort of a metric in terms of the number of relationships that you want to have. And what does that do? That allows you to stay focused and it allows you it actually allows you to keep from getting whipsawed side to side because your manager departments inside the company they’re always going to knee jerk you to existing customers. That’s just the nature of their business, because they don’t see what else is out there. If you have those relationships, you can solve their problems, solve your manager’s problems, solve your manager’s issues that much faster. What does that do? Gives you more time to prospect.
[05:49] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, and you know a lot. For a lot of our listeners, account management means literally servicing the account, making sure they got the product, making sure they got the service, and that can feel like the antithesis of sales. I would say in the account management service division, you need to be listening, really, really listening. I’ll give you a great example. I was working with a client the other day and I was just doing a check-in with him to see if the product arrived on time, were they happy with it? Was everything going well? And in the course of the conversation I found an opportunity to sell them more. They have a training need and in fact I’ve got to write the proposal this morning. But we were just having conversation and I was listening. First of all, I was not trying to sell them a single thing. I was servicing the account. I literally had called to check on the product they already had. But in the course of that conversation I found another opportunity. So get right in your mind that account management is a selling opportunity.
[06:50] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Okay, you just called out the elephant in the room because so many times account management, people perceive it as customer service and if all you’re doing is servicing the account, then that is customer service. And you know what. You shouldn’t be paid like a salesperson. You should be paid like a customer service. And last I looked, they get paid a lot less. But what you did was you said you wanted to listen to the customer and explore and find additional opportunities. This is what is so key. I don’t care what the situation is that you’re doing with that existing account, because your manager has told you you got to take care of this, take care of this. You always got to have the radar up, the radar turned on, looking for additional opportunities, and that’s what you’re doing, because sales is about creating incremental opportunities. You have to be focused on incremental.
[07:39] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I would say too. You know, and Mark, I’d be curious how do you feel about blocking time, about thinking that certain times are for chasing new business, certain times are for account management and deepening existing relationships?
[07:53] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Oh, I’m all in on it. You have to do. You have to block your time because otherwise what happens is you’re going to respond to that email, you’re going to respond to that text, that Slack message, that Teams message, whatever it might be, that is coming from existing you know departments. You know the departments in your own company. If you don’t block your time, here’s the situation I always tell account managers. I tell this of. Also, do you answer the phone when you’re in the restroom? I would hope that you don’t, ok? So, in other words, if you don’t respond to your manager for 20 minutes, if you don’t respond to some internal department in your company for 20 minutes, big deal they can wait. That could be 20 minutes that you’re spending prospecting. You’ve got to have it go back to what the brain told us, and that is you have to treat prospecting as a lifestyle. You’ve got to treat it as a lifestyle. You’ve got to devote time to it on a regular basis. So, yes, blocking time is absolutely key.
[08:50] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I love what Natalie says here. One of our champion members of the Sales Logic Mastermind go wide and deep, look at opportunities within the organization, listen for challenges and solve their problems with other division of product categories. There is always so much opportunity. The other thing I think about what Natalie is saying is they’re also a great opportunity for referrals. You know, if they’re happy with you and you’re doing a great job for account management, don’t hesitate to ask them for a referral for another opportunity.
[09:21] – Mark Hunter (Host)
This is why creating additional relationships in that existing account is absolutely key, because again, there are opportunities. So you get two wins out of it. One, additional relationships are going to help create upsell opportunities. Two, they’re going to give you referral opportunities. And three, the bonus round is that, because you have these relationships, when you do get these inquiries from your manager and existing departments, you’re going to have the relationships established and you’re going to be able to solve those issues, get that information faster.
[09:53] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I love what Akbar is saying here. It’s very important that you need to keep at least five to seven major accounts where he keeps relationship at every level, from C level to purchase officer.
[10:04] – Mark Hunter (Host)
You know.
[10:05] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
I love what you’re saying there because it’s like I’ve got an account where I really feel the depth of my relationships is what keeps me in the account. Why? Because it would be too much of a pain to go with somebody else. Nobody knows the company as well as I know the company, my competitors don’t, so it keeps my competitors at bay.
[10:28] – Mark Hunter (Host)
You know, when we’re talking about existing relationships, we’re talking about ourselves, if we’re the account manager and we’re dealing with the customer, but it’s also additional relationships that people within our company create. You’ve got a major account. I want somebody from my C-suite having a relationship with somebody in their C-suite. I want to bring additional people in. Why? Because what does that do? That strengthens the relationship. And oh, by the way, you know what happens. It’s very interesting when other people have relationships, don’t be threatened by it as an account manager. Some people say, oh, if I let other people in, I’m going to lose the account. No, you’re not. No, you’re not.
[11:02] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
No, you’re not. It’s going to help you.
[11:04] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Yeah, you are the quarterback. You are the quarterback and you have other people on your team and what you’re doing is you’re allowing them to develop relationships. So there are going to be times when questions are going to come up. They’re going to be able to answer it themselves because they’ve already got the relationship. That frees up time for you to be prospecting.
[11:22] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, something that has really worked for me, because I have been really bad about not working my existing leads for more opportunity. My existing customers is. But in January of this year I set goals in each bucket. I set goals of the amount of outreach I need to do on a weekly basis. That is aimed at brand new business and aimed at then goals for how much I need to sell into existing relationships. And then I set a referral goal.
[11:55] – Mark Hunter (Host)
I love that having that referral goal. In fact, it’s interesting. Great time to bring up the question that comes from Sierra in Toronto, canada. She’s in equipment financing sales and in the last year they’ve had a lot of growth, some organic, most through acquisitions. In other words, they’re picking up a lot of businesses. She says it’s a lot of fun, but she says I used to be focused mostly on new sales, but now they want us to find new business with existing accounts and, above all, keep the retention rate high. In other words, she’s getting pulled in about four different directions. And that strategy that you laid out, where you came up with hey, this is my goal for referrals, this is my goal here. I think that’s absolutely key. Sierra, this is what you need to be doing with each element of your selling process.
[12:40] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I think it’s. I think it’s just incredibly important. I think I think that you know sales managers go to a meeting and when they’re in that meeting, it is whatever the CEO or the CRO is pounding on at that moment, and they come back and they move you a different direction. What you need to do is basically, the strategy you’ve been given is really good. You’ve got to sell more into existing relationships and you need to find new business. That is so smart for your company to be asking you to do that. We all need to be doing that, because it takes six times as much effort to land a new prospect as it does to sell more to an existing customer. So all you need to do is to lay out your plan, lay out your strategy and, no matter what anybody else tells you, stick to it as long as you’re getting results.
[13:33] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Well, that is so key and that’s so true. Right after a sales meeting, right, you go to a sales kickoff meeting, you have a weekly sales meeting or whatever, and it’s amazing how people get knee jerk. Oh well, that’s the topic, that’s the direction I got to go, and what happens is you’re never going to wind up getting truly focused. I love what Andy’s saying. The litmus test of a great relationship and prospecting call is that the person at the other side of the communication is thrilled that you called yes. So true, this is what you want your existing customers to do. This is how, when you have this type of relationship, you can solve these issues. You can get these inquiries taken care of for corporate, for home office, whatever it might be that much faster. And what does it do? It allows you more time to be selling.
[14:17] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, the thing, though, about selling to existing customers is you really need to be focused on return on investment. Really, you have every single one of us Mark me, all of you, we have customers that we have sold products to that there isn’t more opportunity there. So this isn’t a matter of selling to every, managing every account the same. It’s the same as prospecting you. Really, you really need to go in there and figure out which ones align to your avatar and work to sell more to them, not because you’re quote unquote selling and how most of us think, but because there are things you can do to help that customer. I always say the worst thing that can happen to you is not that you don’t get the sale, it’s that one of your existing customers finds out about a relation, about a product they need from somebody else other than you.
[15:07] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Well, there’s a lot of what you said there that was so key and I’ll never forget. I go back to a customer, an account I was doing some work with, and the account manager was determined to take donuts into every one of his major accounts. Everyone and it’s like wait a minute, not every one of those major accounts deserve donuts.
[15:24] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Exactly.
[15:25] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Yeah, and this was the problem. He was spending his time trying to treat everybody equally and, as a result, nothing was getting done. All he was doing was really making some donut shop very, very profitable because of all he was buying. You have got to understand where is your biggest opportunity and that’s where you got to be focusing your time. And oh, by the way, some of you may have major accounts that you’re spending too much time on and the customer doesn’t like it. The customer doesn’t like it. It’s like would you get out of here? Would you go do something else? I mean, we can actually over-service accounts. Got to be careful of that.
[16:04] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I love what Dave is saying here. Two totally different skill sets. I always wanted to be a net new guy so I could develop those key relationships and nurture them. Then, when I turned to account management, I had built trust which helped me work together with my internal coach to identify future opportunities. Dave, I cannot agree with you more on this. You know, the best I ever was in sales was when I was labeled the hunter and they assigned a skinner to me and we were a dynamite team. Because my skills are in the hunter section and while I can manage an account, I’m not that great at it. I get bored and I get uninterested, and so, you know, I now in business today. I’ve got to have those skill sets, but my skills and my passion lie in being a hunter.
[16:54] – Mark Hunter (Host)
OK, so now you just stole my last name there, so I’m sorry. Ok, I love it. I love it. Here’s the situation when you become a good hunter, when you become a good prospect, you know what? You know what I find very interesting you actually do a better job of developing your existing accounts. Here’s why Because you it takes a different skill set to prospect than it does to service existing accounts, and if you can develop your skills prospecting, you’re going to find ways to ask questions, to uncover information, uncover insights, et cetera. That’s going to help you sharpen your skills with existing accounts. There’s also going to be information that you’re going to learn from those prospects. Now guess what it’s going to help you that you, in turn, can bring back to your existing accounts. You’ve got to be doing both, because if you’re not doing both this goes back to a question from Sierra in Toronto, sierra you’ve got to be doing both because if you’re not, you’re actually short circuiting one or the other.
[17:54] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I think it’s very, very important to block certain times on your schedule, or what I do is basically, I build a top 100 list every December and my top 100 are the 100 prospects and existing customers I am going to focus on for the next year. In fact, I’m right in the process right now of building my top 100 for 2025. And so it’s just a matter of what pops up into my CRM, which is another thing, mark, that we haven’t mentioned, but that is the importance in this process of really using your CRM.
[18:30] – Mark Hunter (Host)
You know what’s funny? I find so many account managers never open their CRM. They never open because, oh well, I’ve only got three accounts, or I’ve got four accounts, I know everything. There is to know. Hey, what happens if you get run over by a bus? And oh, by the way, there is no way that you’re going to be able to if you understand those customers well enough. And oh, by the way, if you’re not opening up your CRM, chances are that means you’re not prospecting, that means you’re not bringing new insights to your existing. You are hurting your existing accounts if you do not have your CRM system open at all times. I could challenge you. My CRM system is open right behind this window for StreamYard.
[19:06] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, you know. The other thing I think is is if you’re going to sell into existing accounts and Natalie made this point you’re really looking for opportunities that may be outside of the products or services that your division sells. I was just working with a financial institution that the growth of the organization for next year is selling deep within the existing customer base. You’ve got to expand the type of questions that you ask and the number of questions that you ask and the areas that you ask, because what you use to land a prospect are not the same questions you use to expand the relationship.
[19:45] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And that is another reason why you want to bring additional people from your account into that account, into your existing account. This is why it’s so key, because when you do that, it’s amazing. What does it do? It creates new opportunities for more questions, new learning, and it strengthens the entire relationship with the existing account and then, in turn, helps you from a prospecting standpoint. I love what Akbar is saying. I engage my pre-sales team to keep them engaged and keep them as we’re trusted advisor. You’re right All the way through the process, from the time they become a lead. Your objective is to create that trusted advisor role. If they fit your avatar, I love it.
[20:26] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, and sales is a team sport it’s exactly right, Natalie where everyone is playing with a goal in mind. It leads to sales growth and happy customers. That’s, customers don’t think of themselves as aligned to a division. They think of themselves as they are a customer of your company and if you have a product that can help them, then you’re going to offer it. Mark’s probably time for the book, wouldn’t you? Oh sorry.
[20:51] – Mark Hunter (Host)
No, that’s exactly. That’s exactly where I was going. So, hey, the book is kind of different. This week We’ve got something different. Why don’t you introduce it? Because I love it, let’s talk about it.
[21:00] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
I’m sorry I don’t have it up.
[21:02] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Well, the book is Sales Logic Mastermind, because we want you, as a book this week, to join the Sales Logic Mastermind, because we’ve got several members on the call today Dave, and we also have Natalie. We have a number of other members and what we do is, every couple of weeks we’re together on these calls like this and the conversations are absolutely powerful. So, mary, tell people how do they find out information about the?
[21:28] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
mastermind. Yeah, just go to saleslogicpodcastcom. You’ll find the mastermind there. And the reason it’s the book this week is because what we wanted to do is really focus on how do you learn to sell better, how do you learn to sell more effectively, how do you learn to sell past your goals and how do you set yourself up to be more successful in 2025? I can’t think of a better read than the Sales Logic Mastermind.
[21:53] – Mark Hunter (Host)
I love it. Hey, are you ready for the lightning round?
[21:56] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
I am.
[21:57] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Top 10 ways to retain customers Go.
[22:00] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Well, I mean, the number one way to retain great customers is deliver service they can’t find anywhere else.
[22:09] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Two create additional relationships with additional people in that account.
[22:14] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Number three really personalize the experience. Know them, know their kids, know their hobbies, know where they went on vacation. Make them feel like they’re your only customer.
[22:25] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Get people within your account, within your company. To get to know people at your account, create cross relationships.
[22:34] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Number five respond incredibly quickly If they have an issue, if they have a problem, if they have an opportunity be available.
[22:43] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Conduct annual business reviews, sit down with the customer, review the business and begin to uncover opportunities for the forthcoming year.
[22:52] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, you know number seven. As we move into the holiday season, find ways to thank them, to show appreciation for them, to let them know that that you value their business.
[23:03] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Number eight understand their customers customer. When you understand their customers customer as well as they do, it’s amazing how they won’t let go of you.
[23:11] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I would say number nine celebrate. Celebrate anniversaries with them the anniversary they first became your customer, a milestone when their company grew to another level. Find ways to call out and emphasize that you know how important this relationship is.
[23:29] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And number 10, invite them in on helping to develop research, testing, exploring new opportunities. The more you can create longer term programs that are going on with them, hey, the more difficult it’s going to be for them to leave hey. With that, we want to say thank you for listening to Sales Logic. If you like what you hear, subscribe, rate and review the show on your favorite podcast app. Something we’ve said has earned you a single dollar. Consider telling a friend about our show, because it’s how we grow when we help you grow. I’m Mark Hunter.
[23:59] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
And I’m Meredith Elliott Powell. Remember when you sell with confidence and integrity all of this uncertainty suddenly becomes your competitive advantage.
[24:07] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And the sale becomes logical.
[24:09] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
All right, we’ll see you right back here next week for another episode of Sales Logic. And remember, check out SalesLogic Mastermind and submit any questions you’ve got for the podcast. We want to help you be more effective in 2025. We’ll see you next week.