What
What is the business for? To win and keep customers. Then the numbers: the sales budget and sales by customer.
Inside a real client relationship
14 clients. Three and a half years. Never lost one.
Ashley Maile ran an engineering business for 17 years and sold it to private equity. Now he advises business owners. In this session he shows exactly how he works with them, from the first questions he asks to why they never leave.
The session
No theory. How it actually works with clients.
Recorded at one of our conferences, in front of other members. Ashley is the first to say he's “terrible at open questions”. What he knows is business.
Session one
Start with the pain, not a three-year plan
Owners who are worried about cash can't think about the future yet. These are the first questions Ashley asks.
- Are you up to date on your VAT?
- What does your director's loan account stand at?
- How much is in the bank, and how much do you need in there?
The method
What, Who, How, When
The same four questions with every client, whether it's an engineering firm, a gym or a salon.
Who
Which customers really matter? Rank them, add gross profit, colour-code them. Usually five or six customers make 80% of turnover.
How
How will you keep and grow the best ones? A key account plan for each: supporters, blockers, value and named actions.
When
What keeps it happening? A CRM, a sales budget every year, and behaviour measures, like coffee with every key supporter.
What it looks like
Simple steps. Real money.
The customer worth dropping
One client's second-biggest customer made 17% gross profit. A small one made 45%. They let about £800,000 of the low-margin work go and grew the small customer to about £650,000 at over 40%.
Two phone calls a week
Early in the pandemic, Ashley asked a client to call two top customers a week to say “we're still here for you”. Two weeks later those calls had brought in £550,000 of work.
Never let anything go
Getting a client to run a proper cash-flow forecast can take him two years of reminders. He doesn't move on until it's done. That's why they stay.
“The only people who don't suffer from imposter syndrome are the imposters.”
Your experience, used properly
Want clients who stay for years?
We build the practice around the experience you already have, including the client delivery system. Book a call with Pam and she'll tell you honestly whether it fits.
Book a call with Pam