Selling a Solution to New vs. Existing Customers

I’ve been on the road meeting many of your existing customers and prospects, one thing I’ve noticed is the difference in the sales process. The benefits of having a relationship with someone may create a “pigeon hole” effect and it can be tough to get out of the, “but you’re my freight forwarder,” attitude. Though getting in the door of a new customer as a 3PL can be just as difficult. So some thoughts on these challenges below.

Selling a Solution to New vs. Existing Customers
When it comes to selling solutions and crafting your sales pitch, there is a clear difference between selling to an existing customer vs. a brand new customer. Truth be told, you are going to need to adjust your sales pitch dramatically depending on who you are working with. In both instances you are selling something new but it may not be to someone new. So how do you find the most promising new prospects?

Existing Clients
It makes sense that it should be much easier to sell to existing clients. When searching for the best prospects through your library of existing clients, who will be the best cross sell candidates?
1. Potentially larger clients. Identify your top growth customers; the ones that are doing steady business with you right now, but have the potential to double your revenue with the introduction of other solutions.
2. Your most loyal customers. These are the people that you already have a great relationship with. They won’t hesitate to sit down with you over lunch and talk about the other aspects of how they’re doing business, and are often open to hearing about opportunities. With these folks, you will bring solutions and pain points up more casually and utilize those relationships for networking purposes.
3. Networking introductions should be comfortable and friendly. You can’t expect to penetrate different departments through only your contact, so get to know as many people within that company as possible.

New Clients
1. When searching for new clients, search within industries that you feel most comfortable. This way you have existing knowledge of the industry and plenty of familiar names and references showing you understand their business.
2. Network within your niche. Stay on top of new developments in your industry and theirs. Set personal goals for the number of companies you want to have meetings with in a period of time and reward yourself when you meet your goals. Staying focused and keeping your goals realistic and within reach will ultimately lead to the best kind of customer; the new kind.
3. Study the company, stocks, competition, industry and your existing clients before entering a meeting. (See previous blog post on where to find this data) Build a networking relationship and approach the right contacts with the topics that they are interested in.

In Both Cases
Learn their business, cultivate the relationship, and position yourself as a solutions provider. Once a true business relationship has been built, you should have a working understanding of each other’s operations, general policies, practices and procedures. Building trust is important to keeping great customers and creating success stories.


Thanks and good luck,
Tom Madzy