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When selling, what are the differences between talking to a prospect vs an existing customer?
When selling, what are the differences between a prospect and an existing customer? How do you talk to one vs the other?
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10 Answers
Do you act differently with your prospects than you do with your customers? Don’t.
Put yourself in their shoes. What if you act one way during the buying cycle and another way after they’ve given you their money and their confidence? During the buying cycle you’re calling every day, brining gifts, and getting them all the resources they need. Don’t stop doing those things. You probably don’t have to call as often because there won’t be as many details to cover. However, while there may be fewer calls, your calls should still deliver the same amount of value to your customer.
This approach is simply good business.
1. You want your existing customers to buy more products and services from you.
2. You want them to tell other prospects how good you were after the sale.
You cannot be one type of person before the sale and another type of sales person after the sale.
Hi Caty! The biggest differences are history and continuity. With customers we have them. With prospects we are trying to establish them.
With customers, the verbs are past, present, and future tense. With prospects, past is absent or at least diminished, except for context. Most of the verbs are present tense, building toward future tense.
Unless there have been negatives, conversations with customers usually are a bit more casual, with certain “mutual knowns” going unspoken. With prospects, “mutual skepticism” often characterizes the early going, with more dependent clauses.
As dialogue advances with both customers and prospects, there usually is greater lilt in the participants’ voices … more energy in their dynamic. Sometimes they say funny things! The dialogue features more action verbs as the seller delivers the call to action and, if all has gone well, the customer or prospect responds positively.
With a prospect, the reference while talking is always maintained keeping in view their business / technology / issues. You can sight examples of someone in the same industry or having the same problem that needs to be solved. Therefore, case studies of work done similar to the one you are discussing with the prospect is of great value.
In the case of discussions with a customer, you initiate discussion on work executed, pain-points or highlights (if any). The discussion moves to what else can be done and how much more value you can add to the relationship. Eventually, the conversation goes to driving efficiencies, demonstrating new competency acquired or on you move up the value chain through innovation or similar other means.
Prospect I am building a relationship /prospect qualifying
Client I am maintaining a relationship /customer retention
In fact there shouldn't be much differences between your prospects and customers in the way you tend to make a mutual relationship with them. however, it's much more profitable if you concentrate on your customers , as customer retention is more critical than acquiring new customers and also our current customers can be the best way of talking to our prospects if we can satisfy them.
There are several answers here that cover this question well.
But I think the biggest difference is that there is too much likelihood for salespeople to get TOO comfortable / familiar with repeat customers and not attend to them as well as a new customer.
When training new salespeople, I use an analogy of house guests. The first time they come to your home, you serve them a drink, offer them anything they might want, attend to all their needs, etc. The more frequently they come over, the more we tend to settle into a "help yourself to the fridge" attitude. This may be ok for your dorm buddies, best friends or neighbors, but not for your customers. They should always expect first class service on every visit to your establishment or sales / service phone call.
There is little work to do with an existing customer because their initial trust has already been earned and all you have to do is build on what already exist. As for a prospect, the approach is totally different because they are still learning to trust what you have to offer which means they will require more time concerning their decisions and you will require more patience to get them to believe in what you have to offer and bring. God bless.
Here are the clients stages defined.
Suspects – the list of people who fit your target description
Prospects – the list of people who have responded to an offer for more information
Clients – the list of people who have tried your product or service (invested money)
Repeat clients – the list of people who have upgraded or purchased more
Champions – the list of people who tell others and sell for you
In simple terms, prospects have invested no money with you, and clients have done business with you.
When talking to a prospect you haven't earned any trust yet. With an existing customer, hopefully they trust you already. At the heart of all sales is trust. If an existing customer doesn't trust you, you will have constant challenges.
You are introducing yourself and your company.
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