Today’s post comes from Dr. Michael Franz, a Whale Hunters Certified Consultant from Munich, Germany. Michael’s company is Michael Franz & Partner: High Probability Selling. Follow him on Twitter @michaelfranz.
Whale Hunting is a great strategy to grow your company fast. But even fast-growing companies make on average 80% of their revenue from existing clients. So it’s much more important to keep existing whales than to hunt for new ones. How do you find out if there is a high probability that existing whales will work with you next year, too? By asking all your existing customers the ultimate question:
How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?
According to Fred Reichheld, author of The Ultimate Question, the customers’ responses to this question determine the future of your business. This simple question reveals whether your current customers are promotors of your business. And measuring the responses regularly keeps your employees accountable for treating your customers right.
Are your clients really satisfied?
Do you believe that your clients are satisfied, even highly satisfied? You are probably wrong. Bain & Company recently surveyed 362 firms. 80% believe they deliver a “superior experience” to customers. Than Bain asked their customers and discovered that only 8% are really delivering. This ten-to-one ratio suggests a huge misconception about client satisfaction.
Why good harvesting is so important!
In Whale Hunting one of the most important steps is landing and celebrating the whale. There are two sides to this. One is that when you land the job, you deliver what you promised. And second is that you take care of the people at your client. That you establish a strong personal and strategic relationship with the client people. Both actions together produce highly satisfied clients that will buy again and that will promote you to other clients.
So, what will your clients answer to the ultimate question?
