5 steps to reclaiming B2B customer loyalty

As noted in an article that Rachel Klein and I wrote for Sales and Marketing Magazine, sales-centric B2B companies all too often put themselves at risk when they place too much control over customer relationships in the hands of an individual rep. This sets up a bit of a revolving door effect: customers come in, follow a rep as their single point of contact and then are likely to follow her or him right out the door when that salesperson inevitably exits.

I encourage you to read the article for the full story on how you not only risk losing customers in the long term but, perhaps more damaging still, you put your company in danger of immediate and on-going loss of sales through effects including curtailed cross-selling.

While the core problems, which may develop gradually, can take a good deal of time to address, the good news is that there are a few things that you can do—no, that you definitely should do—right now to begin reclaiming customer relationships and the revenue that goes with them.

Step 1: Size up your risk: how likely are customers to walk out with reps? 
Take a look at your most valuable customers—that top twenty percent in the old 80/20 rule. How many of those have one sales representative as their primary or, worse yet, single source of contact? Then assess how many of those have long-term client-rep relationships (that is, multi-year). When find customers that have only a short-list of other connections to your company, and a longer-term relationship with any one rep, you’ve identified a real risk of customer defection.

Step 2: Develop a strong, involved account team.
It doesn’t matter if your team is two or twelve—what matters is that it be a real team and not an individual rep. Structure the team and schedule their touch points so that each member has meaningful, helpful contact with clients, providing value and not simply taking up the customer’s time. And don’t just plan out the time with customers:  set expectations for each team member and track the actual amount of time they invest in customer-facing activity.

Step 3: Get the top brass to play a regular role.
It’s a simple but powerful truth: clients feel important when they “feel the love” from your top executives (or those near the top).  Schedule periodic face time for your business and sales leadership and clients, whether during field visits, at trade shows, via special VIP sessions, or simply with personal phone calls and emails. Also, creating a “peering structure” (CMO to CMO, supply chain manager to supply chain manager, etcetera) can be a powerful way to improve client communication and open the door to new customer insights from multiple perspectives.

Step 4: Communicate via an intentional, direct and consistent program.
Your rep is there, first and foremost, to sell to the client, not inform them of your broader benefits. You need to take responsibility for direct-to-the-customer communication about your company, making certain that they stay current with your vision, how you’re growing, who you’re hiring, the new products you’ve introduced and initiatives you’ve undertaken—in short, everything that creates awareness and shapes positive impressions. It’s the best way to make sure you never again hear customers say, “Wow, if I’d only known that your company does that!”

Step 5: Create a plan, with and for your client.
If you’re very fortunate (and you’ve been working hard at it) your customer relationships involve so much trust that Joint Strategic Planning can take place on a regular basis. That allows you to work closely on reviewing your relationship, evaluating performance, and identifying areas, current and future, that can produce mutual wins. Even if you’re not quite at that stage, you can still have your account team create a plan independently, drawing on insight from the various customer touch points that your more broadly-based team is pursuing, with the aim of creating a more customized approach to serving each specific customer’s objectives and needs.

It’s time to stop that revolving door — start taking the steps to take back your customer loyalty today.