Your Service Delivery and Client Support Teams are the most important asset you have in both protecting your clients and growing revenue in the post-pandemic world.
When the starting gun goes off and the world reopens, it is going to be a race for revenue. Given the obvious market challenges the pandemic has created, you and your competitors will be chasing a much smaller revenue pie.
Which means clients with service or relationship issues, especially those coming up for renewal, could be at risk. And, as you focus on growth, the obvious place to look first will be in your client base.
The Service Delivery Advantage
Your Service Delivery and Client Support Teams have several advantages over the Sales Teams.
- The Service Teams may have direct access to your clients, where Sales may not… especially where they are located on-site with your clients.
- They may have stronger relationships in certain client organizations because they are NOT Sales. They may hear things that Sales does not, and oftentimes are the first to see client issues and opportunities for you to deliver value and create new sales opportunities.
- Given today’s madness, clients are less likely to engage with Sales – especially if they think you are trying to “sell them something” versus the Service Teams who are there to “help.”
- And they can help identify potential jeopardy accounts.
Prioritizing Your Clients for Growth
As you think about leveraging your base for growth, your clients will generally fall into three categories.
- Those that are in “survival mode” and are focused on just trying to protect their business. Unless you can help them save a dramatic amount of money or show them other ways to keep their business afloat – and prove it… getting them to invest in anything will be very challenging.
- Other clients understand the post-pandemic world will be very different and they must re-tool their business now to adapt to what comes next. These clients will respond to thought leadership that helps them determine which path to take and solutions that help support them in implementing their new direction.
- There will also be clients that have benefited from the pandemic and have grown revenue. They will be focused on how to protect and continue that growth. They too may have to re-tool their business, especially if their growth was dramatic.
The Six Critical Client Questions
There are six critical questions that will need to be answered for every key client to help you protect and grow your base:
- Which clients are coming up for renewal and where do you have service or relationship risks in the base?
- What are their strategic imperatives now? Not 10 or 12 weeks ago, when the world was very different?
- What thought leadership and ideas can you bring to assist them to achieve these strategic imperatives?
- How can your products and services help them achieve those goals and how will you quantify the value you can deliver?
- Who specifically will you have to position your value with?
- What business value have you delivered in the past to the client that will enable you to defend your partner status?
The Service/Sales Partnership
The Service Teams are your front-line defense for protecting your client base and will play a leading role in growing client revenue. In the post-pandemic world, the partnership between Sales and the Service Delivery and Client Support Teams is more important than ever.
Personal Challenge:
The Sales and Service Teams should jointly discuss and strategize for each key client to identify who might be at risk and prioritize and target the base for growth. Leverage the access, relationships, and client knowledge of the Service Teams to gain competitive advantage. As a team, answer the six critical questions and execute the plan!
