This will be the year when a good defense but becomes your greatest strength
The War of 2022
As we start 2022, we know that it is vital that we sustain and retain as much of our newly gained business as we can. There is no doubt that we are all going to be engaged in competitive warfare over the next twelve months. We need aware of the threats, be fully armed with the tools needed to combat them, and have strategically sound battle plans to ward off the enemy.
So where do we start? The answer to building your battle plans can be found in understanding how we gained the new business that we now need to defend.
Gain
Throughout the past year, many of you have successfully grown your businesses by taking market share from your competitors. The keys to being able to gain market share have been:
Utilizing social media platforms to promote the OC brand and educational events
Having an engaged and educated sales team following up on leads and conversions
Ensuring products are readily available for new customers to purchase
The final key is particularly important as it was our competitor’s inability to provide products that created many of the growth opportunities that were presented to us. As they solve their inventory supply and management issues, our competitors will go after their lost business in an aggressive manner. There will be a battle.
Sustain
Statistically, businesses lose most of their new business during the first six months of acquisition. We also know that it costs more to bring in new customers than it does to keep existing consumers happy and coming back to your place of business. A good defense in this case becomes your best strategic offense. So, it just makes sense to have a proactive defensive plan to keep your newly gained business.
Regularly ask or survey your new customers to learn what they like and don't like about your service and products. Use those findings to help improve messaging, adjust inventory, and make any needed changes.
Make sure you continue to educate your employees on current best practices and make sure you’re competitively pricing your goods and services. Today, sales strategies are less talking about products and more about listening to needs.
Monitor your competition and external environmental conditions to stay on top of what they're doing that you're not that could result in customer loss.
Almost 70% of a business’s new customers will be lost if the customer feels that they are not being treated similarly to how they were before. It is therefore imperative that you know, understand, and deliver service and messaging that meets your new customer’s needs.
Retain
How do we ward off our competitors coming back for their lost business? To retain our gained business, we will all need to have a maintenance plan.
We will need to make sure we are maintaining our social media strategies, by re-defining and re-targeting our messaging.
We will need to maintain inventory levels that meet the demands of an increased customer base.
Finally, we will need to make sure we have the customer relationship management tools in place that allow us to continue to be directly engaged with customers.
The Battles Are Coming
I am confident that if we have are battle-ready we can successfully fight against our competitors and win the customer retention war. You will all need to ask yourselves the following questions:
Do I have a battle plan?
Am I armed with the right tools?
Are my forces equipped to defense?
Are you ready?
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