When the world is in financial difficulty, the sales group of a security company must develop a marketing plan to attract new customers and retain old ones.
by Adhir Uscátegui
The issue of the economic situation, the slowdown of the economy and the effects of the crisis in other regions of Latin America are topics that are coming to us daily through the media in recent months. This begins to generate an environment of uncertainty in our prospects that definitely affects the sales processes in electronic security. We begin to find sales opportunities that "stagnate", do not progress and the development of new opportunities becomes quite complicated.
Taking into account the type of sale we work on in security, such as products and services, especially oriented to the business market, I would like to make some comments on a possible strategy to follow. Obviously this depends on the nature of each economic activity and may not apply to some sectors. Anyway I would like to share the following concepts.
Think and act
One of the obvious facts is that in times of crisis new customers are scarce and persecuted not only by your security company, but by all your competitors. Therefore, this type of sale becomes a rather inhospitable and highly dangerous territory. The odds of winning new business in this scenario are reduced compared to an environment of economic growth or at least stability. Due to this situation, another delicate situation is generated, to which you have to be very alert and it is necessary to establish a strategy to defend your position. I am referring to the fact that due to that scarcity of new opportunities many of your competitors initiate an "attack" on your customer base.
You as a professional security and consultative salesperson must defend, develop and delight your current customers and prospects. One of the strategies that can generate the best result in these times of crisis is to strengthen relationships with your current customers to the maximum and invest your promotion and demand generation resources in strengthening these relationships. This with the aim of identifying and developing new business opportunities with your current customers.
Typical phrases today are something like "statistically it is proven that it is 8 to 10 times more expensive to sell to a new customer than to a current customer". I don't really know where these figures come from, but I do agree that there is at least one big advantage in developing business opportunities in current customers. We are already inside. This can be good or bad. If the customer experience has not been positive with our solution and / or with our company, we are on the contrary at a disadvantage, since the customer may begin to receive, due to his bad experience, better offers than the one you have supplied.
Assuming we have a strong position on our client, it's time to define a serious and professional work plan to "develop the account."
You as a security consultant of your client must take the initiative and propose a joint planning process with the aim of offering a better service, at the same time that you take the opportunity to identify new opportunities for additional sales or cross-selling, always bearing in mind that you must maintain your role as a consultant and must justify very well what you are offering to your client. Do not forget that a sale made to meet your needs and not to meet the needs or strategies of your client will become in the medium term your Sword of Damocles.
In order not to lengthen these thoughts too much, what I want to express is that a great source of new business opportunities are your own customers. Therefore try to develop and apply some of the following concepts in your business scenario:
• Analyze each of your customers very well
•Assess your competitive position and customer satisfaction with your solutions and your security company
•Develop a rating of these elements and build it with a business opportunity rating
If your security firm doesn't have an " account management" methodology, propose one to your boss. This is very important to reach the client in a structured way and to be able to propose the development of a joint planning strategy. This contributes to the user, while becoming their tool for identifying new opportunities.
• Work identifying these new opportunities and apply your knowledge and consultative sales methodology to develop each of these business opportunities, trying to neutralize potential competitors
• Look for sponsors with power (sponsors) within your client, they will be necessary to support your initiatives, which should provide value to your client's business
• Develop value-added proposals that are based on the high knowledge that you and your team must have of your client, this is something that your competitors do not have, so take advantage of it
From my own experience and personal experience I can tell you that this strategy works and very well.
Several years ago we managed to generate the necessary trust in a very important company, which believed in our solutions and our organization. Initially we executed a project at the departmental level. Through a strategy such as the one mentioned above, we have achieved such a strong and mutually productive rapport that we become your main ally at the level of electronic security systems for the commercial and customer service area. A business that year after year has tripled or even more, steadily over more than several years of relationships.
Happy sales!
*If you have concerns about it you can contact the author by writing to the email [email protected]
