Want to keep your clients loyal and develop the relationship long term? There are the 3 actions you need to know about.

1. EngageSelling.com
3 Actions that Lead to a
Customer For Life
Colleen Francis
EngageSelling.com

2. 3 Actions that Lead to a Customer For Life
It’s a statistic that’s commonly repeated in sales departments: it costs five times more to
gain a new customer than to keep an existing one. That’s why it’s important to not just
make sales, but to acquire lifelong customers. Sales representatives should be thinking
about how to turn a sale into a customer for life from the very first conversation with a
prospect. There are three simple, proven actions that will help your company retain happy
customers at higher rates.
© Engage Selling Solutions Inc. 2

3. Action #1: Establish Relationships That Are Not Only
Deep, But Also Wide
Many sales representatives establish strong relationships with their main contacts at each
of your customers, but oftentimes, that’s not enough. Build relationships with senior
managers across multiple departments at your client's company to ensure the security of
your relationship with them far into the future.
Use an organizational chart to understand the players within the company and commit to
building those relationships. The best defense you have for protecting an ongoing
relationship with any customer is to build a wall consisting of a number of relationships
within the company. Concentrate on being a trusted resource, not just a vendor. If done
right, your customer will stop seeing you as a supplier and start seeing you as an insider or
a partner.
© Engage Selling Solutions Inc. 3

4. Action #1: Establish Relationships That Are Not Only
Deep, But Also Wide
A cautionary tale came from a client I consulted with a number of years ago. The client
resisted the idea of building relationships across their customer’s organization because the
executive vice president of HR was a huge advocate for them, and she signed all the
checks and was the key decision-maker at the organization.
Two months later, the EVP was unceremonious marched out of the building after an
expense scandal. My client’s key ally was gone, and worse than that, the new EVP wanted
to separate himself from anything that the old one had in the works, including ending most
of her vendor relationships. Despite a situation that was out of its control, my client lost
the business. Ensuring you have multiple points of contact and allies within your customer
can help you avoid a similar situation.
© Engage Selling Solutions Inc. 4

5. Action #2: Have a Genuine Interest in Ensuring Your
Client’s Success
We hear it all the time in sales: “I’d walk away from the customer if I wasn’t selling them
a product or service that wouldn’t solve a problem they have.” But in working with dozens
of sales organizations, I don’t always see that philosophy genuinely in action.
In order to develop a customer for life, you have to honestly believe that what you’re
providing is helping them improve their business or personal life. This means that it’s
important to be there in between sales opportunities. Offer them advice or offer them
introductions to other people when you’re not the right resource. Develop a long-term
relationship with the client by focusing on their overall growth, well-being and success,
and they’ll view you not only as a vendor or service provider, but as a trusted counsel and
part of their business.
© Engage Selling Solutions Inc. 5

6. Action #3: Commit to Lifelong Customers at All
Levels of Management
The development of a loyal customer for life requires more than just the involvement of
your sales staff, it requires a commitment from your CEO, your sales leadership, customer
service, development, and every other department within your organization. It’s important
to ensure that each member of your company realizes that they have a role to play in
serving the customer, and that it’s their priority to ensure the customer has a positive
experience and stays with your company.
I once discussed the idea of commissions for staff based on repeat business with a hotel
vice president of sales, and discovered it was something he did not do at his company. To
me, that sends the message to his team that they should ignore existing customers, as they
were only being rewarded for new business. It’s essential to commit to rewarding your
staff for repeat business and to create compensation plans around your goals to retain
clients, not just in sales, but also across the organization.
© Engage Selling Solutions Inc. 6

7. Final Thoughts
Ensure that your employees understand the importance of lifelong customers, create sales policies
that help you develop deep and lasting relationships within the organization, and reflect the customer
retention priority in your policies across departments at your company.
© Engage Selling Solutions Inc. 7