We’re sharing helpful tips from Kevin Baumgart at Set Sales, which we call “Sales Hacks.”
For this series, Kevin shares tips and strategies that he’s seen work in print shops.
In this installment, Kevin talks about nurturing your existing customers. Stay tuned for more helpful tips!
I’m often getting pulled into conversations with shop owners about wanting to build an outbound approach to find and acquire new customers. I think it’s the right strategy and shops should focus on it. However, let’s not forget who got us here.
And let’s not forget the potential revenue generation we can get from focusing on our current customers.
Here are three strategies to generate more revenue from your current customers:
Create post-order automated email campaigns
Think about your post-order process today. Once customers get “shirts in hand,” are we communicating with them? Most good shops are. And it’s not just ad hoc. It’s scripted, dialed, and automated. The goal here is to stay in front of them and top of mind. We don’t want to be looked at as the company that just “sold them” and then never reached back out.
I’d recommend building a post-order email campaign of 5-6 touchpoints. Simple, short emails sent over a period of time (maybe 2-3 months.) Initial emails can focus on their 100% satisfaction with the merch they received. Later emails can focus more on other services and products we provide or educational content. Phone is almost always best when reaching out and communicating with customers, but for this simple outreach, I’m a fan of some general emails.
To note: It will help tremendously to have an email marketing tool or CRM with email campaign sending ability to execute this strategy. For most shops, this must be an automated workflow where we just hit send!
Run QPRs with your top customers
Quarterly partnership reviews (QPRs) are a great way to stay in front of your top customers. A quarterly sit-down can strengthen the relationship and drive more revenue for our largest customers (maybe the top 10%). Here is my recommendation on what should be covered in a slide deck to accompany that meeting:
- Slide 1: Title slide with their logo
- Slide 2: Data/metrics about the relationship – Titled “Success We’ve Achieved Together” (share average order size, number of orders, average turnaround time, etc.) Also, highlight any opportunities you see that could help them
- Slide 3: Customer updates – they provide an overview of what is new on their end
- Slide 4: Shop updates – we provide updates on our end (new garments, new processes, new employees, etc.)
- Slide 5: Future looking – what does the next quarter hold, where can we add more value, what can we do differently, what isn’t working well, etc. (you should spend 75% of your time on the QPR on this slide)
Run current customer promotions
I often find shops lower prices to get new customers in the door. Are we ever providing a discount to our current customers to keep them happy or to get additional orders that we might not have obtained otherwise? It’s worth the ask. You could mention a specific product that you’re printing at a discount. You could also throw in sample tote bags, hoodies, and other items (decorated with their logo) they aren’t ordering in with their standard orders. Get creative and put new ideas in front of them!
Also, during the holiday season, it’s a great time to send gifts. Select a gift they haven’t ordered before and decorate with their logo. I’ve heard that shops get many new product orders using this strategy.
Good Selling,
Kevin
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