You cannot grow your business with a particular client if you’re relying on a singular point of information. Growth comes from not only the quality of contacts, but also your quantity of contacts in a particular organization.
If members of your sales team are not diversifying their contacts within an organization, it’s time that you ask them to start doing so. The truth is, your team needs to be increasing their engagement or “infiltration” with their clients if you have any hopes of growing your business within your existing customer base.
What’s the best way to begin practicing this? Start building an organizational chart.
When a member of your sales team meets with a buyer, either in person or on call, get them to ask this one simple question:
“Who is your backup?”
Simple, right? Let me elaborate to make it even more simple! You want your sales team to position this question in terms of their current client being away or unavailable. Here are some variations of the above question:
“If you’re sick, who is your backup that I should get in touch with to have the decision made?”
“If you’re on vacation, who is the right person to contact instead to place an order?”
“If we can’t find you, what is an alternative contact we should connect with?”
This approach is a way to get new names and contacts within a particular organization so you can begin building their organizational chart…and it’s completely natural!
Remember, if you truly want to grow business within your existing customer base, don’t rely on only one individual within that organization. <– Click to Tweet
Your “backups” also serve another important purpose. Imagine spending months developing a relationship, loyalty and trust with one contact within an organization, only to have them leave for another company soon after. Your rapport with the organization will leave with them! Developing a relationship with multiple individuals allows you to truly build a connection with the organization and not just one point of contact.
