PATRICIA WATKINS
DESCRIPTION
EXCERPT
We have experience in driving sales across many industries and companies. From start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, we’ve harnessed best practices, including the latest digital tools across sales, marketing, alliances, and channels. In serving as CEOs, COOs, and vice presidents of sales and marketing, we have learned what works and what doesn’t in the Internet age. We love challenges and significantly creating or changing the landscape to drive positive outcomes. We have a passion for finding ways to substantially increase sales, and we have solid track records of results.
Over time, we have developed a sales framework that we have used successfully no matter where we have been and no matter the size of the challenges demanded. The framework is designed to accelerate sales. We call it the “Land and EXPAND Sales Framework.”
The Land and EXPAND Sales Framework links the 6 strategies in the diagram below.
Harnessing even one of these strategies correctly can have a profound impact on your bottom line! Harnessing all 6 strategies creates a hurricane of effective energy. But before we dig into the details and case studies, here are a few words on each strategy to provide context.
Excellent Customer Service / Customer Experience
Customer Experience (CX) is the new competitive battleground. Who’s winning, you or your competition?
Excellent customer service / customer experience is the foundation for additional business – for both expanding existing business and acquiring new business. Companies and sales reps who embrace this key element have a higher probability of both short-term and long-term success!
In this new world of software as a service, subscription models, cloud anywhere and everywhere, social media, always on media, information overload, and lots of competitors all vying for your customer’s business, you must provide exceptional service and an exceptional customer experience.
To expand your current customer base and receive referrals from those customers, there is one basic tenet, one sure fire way to accomplish both – create an exemplary customer experience.
eXpansion Revenue with Up-Sell and Cross-Sell
Do you understand the breadth of your customer’s pain points, and how your other solutions could solve their problems? Knowing this could uncover exponential opportunities.
The next strategy, the “X” of the Land and EXPAND Sales Framework, is generating expansion revenue with cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. Understand your market and your customer’s additional needs and how to help them solve them, as well as or better than the competition. Focus on ways that you can expand your footprint by assisting your customer in solving additional business problems.
To solve additional business problems, first, you need to map what the customer is using today, what their incremental needs are, and what else you might offer to fit their needs. Map all of your solutions deployed, and not deployed, within your accounts – this is also known as mapping the white space – of potential opportunities. Once you see where the gaps are, you can up-sell and cross-sell your other solutions.
There are many methods to offer up-sell and cross-sell opportunities or campaigns to your customers. One method is via one-time Promotions and ongoing Programs.
Promotions and Programs
Promote your solutions. If you don’t tell your customers what other problems you solve, how will they know?
The “P” strategy of the Land and EXPAND Sales Framework is to get the word out in the form of promotions and programs. You want to make your existing customer base aware of the additional problems you can help them solve. You need to deliver ongoing messaging often in the form of digital or content marketing or social media to communicate how you can address key business problems and solve them more creatively and effectively by offering better service and support, with uniquely differentiated solutions. Your differentiation might even be in the form of delivering more creative promotions and programs than your competition.
Promotions and programs run the gamut from buy one, get one free, buy at a special discount, bundled offers, try it / buy it programs, early adopter programs, loyalty programs, reseller programs, user groups and customer advisory boards, plus many others.
Account Business Plans and Quarterly Business Plans
Understanding and being strategically aligned with your customer can differentiate you over 87% of your competitors.* How well do you understand your customer’s initiatives, pain? Are you a trusted advisor, at every level?
The “A” strategy of the Land and EXPAND Sales Framework includes Account Plans and Quarterly Business Plans. On an ongoing basis, you need to gather continuous intelligence around your customer’s business so that you can better understand and fulfill their needs.
There are two keys ways to better understand your customer’s business – Account Business Plans (ABPs) and Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs.) Account Business Plans give you an overview of your account to ensure you have a more thorough understanding of your customers, what their key initiatives are, and where you can better support them. Quarterly Business Plans are conducted with the key stakeholders of your accounts and has the benefit of positioning you better than the competition as a strategic and trusted advisor.
Net Promoter Score®* and Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Are you thanking your customers for their feedback, and focusing as much on the follow up as distributing the survey? Exceeding customer expectations in a timely manner is table stakes. Turn customer surveys into a powerful vehicle to inspire customer loyalty and incremental sales.
The next strategy of the Land and EXPAND Sales Framework is “N” – conducting Net Promoter Score and Customer Satisfaction Surveys. Be sure to ask your customers to give you a report card on how you are doing! Ensure you ask your customers informally and formally what they think of your solutions, and how you are meeting and supporting their needs. Gather their feedback with BOTH Net Promoter Score and Customer Satisfaction Surveys. Ask them how you are doing, and not only do something about it, be sure to communicate to them, your progress and commitment to their customer delight!
Delight your Customers Daily!
Do you and every single employee in your company delight your customers daily? Retaining your customers demands it.
The “D” in the Land and EXPAND Sales Framework is Customer Delight. Bottom line: Success starts with Exceptional Customer Service / Customer Experience and is expanded as you delight your customer. Businesses today successfully expand their revenues based on their ability to meet and exceed customer expectations. One of my favorite books is “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. In their book they note:
“Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans.”
“The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them―preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.”
―Richard Branson
When you provide both Exceptional Customer Service / Customer Experience and you Delight Your Customers Daily, Referral Selling comes naturally.
Referral Selling
Over 90% of customers said they’d give referrals, but only 11% of sales reps ask*. Do you ask delighted customers and others in your network for referrals? Do you focus on referral selling?
Referral Selling leverages your success with existing customers, and it is by far the best, most cost-effective way to generate new business. You can expand your business with new solutions, departments, divisions, and geographies in your existing accounts. Referral selling is the best way to attract and close new opportunities. Referral selling is the most cost-effective, highest-close-rate way to EXPAND revenues. Referral Selling is the hands-down, most effective prospecting strategy.*
“Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do business with you.” – Chip Bell