Why an Existing Customer Base is a Partner’s Top Priority
When businesses look at a cloud-based communications solution like Wildix, I often hear them try to gauge its value with a familiar question:
“How will this help me generate new leads?”
Frankly, asking that means you’re thinking about the upgrade in the wrong way.
The problem here is that you’re considering your company’s switch to UCaaS only by looking at your own upgraded offer. What you’re not taking into account is your competition — or the fact that they’re ahead of the curve in the tech department.
And the thing about your competition is, they aren’t just competing with you over new leads. They also want a piece of your current business: those customers you’ve left sitting on legacy products and services.
With how fast the tech market is moving, you can’t count any of your existing customers as a sure thing. Yes, you’ve built a relationship with them. Hopefully, you’ve even won their trust. But at the end of the day, what matters to them is whether you can deliver up-to-date tech, and the expertise to maximize its value. Without those factors, you’re not giving clients much reason to stay signed on with you.
So instead of asking about generating new leads, the better question is: “How are you doing with your current leads?”
The term I use for existing customer bases is “overlooked assets,” because of how often vendors take that business for granted. And letting those assets remain overlooked is one of the biggest mistakes a vendor can make; that oversight allows big UC vendors to step in and fill the gap, flaunting their new technologies and name recognition to make off with the contracts you thought you’d already nailed down.
Now, any company should already know that focusing on current customers is just smart business. You’ve probably already heard boilerplate advice about how customer loyalty is the most cost-effective source of income out there.
Well, people say that because it’s true. To put numbers on it, boosting customer retention by just 5% can lead to a 70% increase in profit.
Those easy earnings are right there, waiting for you, so long as you go back and reclaim your overlooked assets. But the other side of the situation is worth reiterating: when you leave those assets alone, you allow them to look at alternatives. If you haven’t made it clear that you’re keeping up with the market, the next call you get from your customers won’t be them asking for an upgrade — it’ll be them asking you to get your equipment out of their office.
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