From a frontline sales perspective, I have always been of the opinion (based on practical observation), that customer loyalty comes from growth more than growth comes from customer loyalty. Serious research seems to be now on my side.
Ask most marketers, salespeople, consultants and investors where growth comes from, and 90%+ will say "existing customers". Hence the obsession with retention, churn, loyalty programs, account management and customer success. All comfort-zone areas. Or as my colleague Steve Bookbinder at DMTraining puts it, account management is what you do when you want to get out of sales. Luckily, even in sales and marketing we now have increasingly more data-based evidence of what works and what doesn't work in terms of answering this question: what grows a business over time? So, rather than use personal opinion any longer, here are two starting articles that are research-based - about what drives growth at existing accounts (it's not "service"!) and how new customer acquisition trumps all other options. The findings are contrary to currently accepted majority opinion, which further increases my confidence that they are on the right track.
Why Accounts Aren’t Growing, and What to Do About It
Customer acquisition is the only viable growth strategy in B2B
Michael McGowan | Founder Sales Virtual
Any queries, contact me directly | +353-87-9449521 | +44-207-1830165 | +1 (929) 214 1072 |
From a frontline sales perspective, I have always been of the opinion (based on practical observation), that customer loyalty comes from growth more than growth comes from customer loyalty. Serious research seems to be now on my side.
Ask most marketers, salespeople, consultants and investors where growth comes from, and 90%+ will say "existing customers". Hence the obsession with retention, churn, loyalty programs, account management and customer success. All comfort-zone areas. Or as my colleague Steve Bookbinder at DMTraining puts it, account management is what you do when you want to get out of sales. Luckily, even in sales and marketing we now have increasingly more data-based evidence of what works and what doesn't work in terms of answering this question: what grows a business over time? So, rather than use personal opinion any longer, here are two starting articles that are research-based - about what drives growth at existing accounts (it's not "service"!) and how new customer acquisition trumps all other options. The findings are contrary to currently accepted majority opinion, which further increases my confidence that they are on the right track.
Why Accounts Aren’t Growing, and What to Do About It
Customer acquisition is the only viable growth strategy in B2B
Michael McGowan | Founder Sales Virtual
Any queries, contact me directly | +353-87-9449521 | +44-207-1830165 | +1 (929) 214 1072 |
From a frontline sales perspective, I have always been of the opinion (based on practical observation), that customer loyalty comes from growth more than growth comes from customer loyalty. Serious research seems to be now on my side.
Ask most marketers, salespeople, consultants and investors where growth comes from, and 90%+ will say "existing customers". Hence the obsession with retention, churn, loyalty programs, account management and customer success. All comfort-zone areas. Or as my colleague Steve Bookbinder at DMTraining puts it, account management is what you do when you want to get out of sales. Luckily, even in sales and marketing we now have increasingly more data-based evidence of what works and what doesn't work in terms of answering this question: what grows a business over time? So, rather than use personal opinion any longer, here are two starting articles that are research-based - about what drives growth at existing accounts (it's not "service"!) and how new customer acquisition trumps all other options. The findings are contrary to currently accepted majority opinion, which further increases my confidence that they are on the right track.
Why Accounts Aren’t Growing, and What to Do About It
Customer acquisition is the only viable growth strategy in B2B
Michael McGowan | Founder Sales Virtual
Any queries, contact me directly | +353-87-9449521 | +44-207-1830165 | +1 (929) 214 1072 |