Sales is an amazing mix of RETAINING OLD CUSTOMERS & ADDING NEW! The ball game in Sales is to think and focus on HOW TO... 1. Increase the chances of old customers buying more 2. Increase the number of clients by adding more These directions inadvertently lead to a salesman planning follow up calls on existing clients and then COLD CALLS to create new clients. I believe that retaining old clients and adding new ones is a constant exercise that sales people need to follow! And this funda is not just applicable to IT sales or any other vertical, its an universal rule. Keep adding to old ones to make a better base to sell to! New clients will add a newer dimension to the thought process of HOW the old ones remain on the client list. Good interesting topic!
By
Makrand Bhave, AGM - Corporate Business, E18, part of Network 18 Group
| 05 26 2009 05:04:02 +0000
Thanks to the whole lot of people to respond to this question! Gives me a perspective though! Sales is a funnel game - we all knwo that. The more you input, the higher the chances of a closure. And only 10 in 100 are your prospects. So, though retention of existing customers is important for businesses which are into IT solutions/services... getting new customers is always on top of the priority list. If you do nto get new customers in your funnel - then sometimes down the line - your funnel will stop outputting! Then there is no existing customer to talk of... I do not agree that it is a catch 22 situation/question. New customers are a must... only if you have new customers, will you have existing cleints... the funnel concept is eternal.
By
Shaillender Mittal, Director Sales, Uniken Solutions
| 05 25 2009 05:07:44 +0000
Its a catch 22 situation but one need to understand first, how much revenue has been generated from existing customer second, what is the potential that more revenue can be generated. If this is sizeable amount then one should focus existing customers too otherwise it would be better to focus on new accounts.
By
Mohit Varshni, BD Manager, Sify Technologies
| 05 22 2009 15:05:44 +0000
Being Oracle, I have supported both sides of the arguments. An entry point for Oracle would be through its RDBMS and storage range of products, as mostly this is the basic foundation on which it acquires customers. It has good support in its front end tools for development and related e.g. D2K / Java objects of its own proprietary make, Fusion range of products to cross talk across various ERP and other Business range of products, plus great support for its Document Management range of systems which are coming from varoius partners.
I have come across System Integrators based in the UK who are not ranging themselves as say kings or SIs in E-biz or OraApps or JDEdwards or whatever. They simply focus on stuff like say a couple of Financial products for Banking, or something for a particular vertical, say the Credit Card merchants on the back-end processing side.
More than this debate of New or existing customers, Oracle needs to work on the above strategy, developing a range of Partners and System Integrators for the next 2-5 years in India.
I PROMISE, the kind and range of stuff that could be offered in the Indian and nearby markets can be mind-boggling. A good method would be to develop sub-partners for the UK system integrators and partners with great products to come and showcase their wares here in India at visible seminars.
Senior Sales person then need to talk this language to their customers and prospects, so the range offers mind boggling and hard to resist offers. This will also make oracle recession protected. Currently, offerings in the Indian market are far too thin and all have firmly entrenched competitors in their respective segments. e.g. OraApps / E-biz would have SAP all over in customer mindspace talking of Collaborative SCM / SEM / BI-BW / CRM / HRMS / host of high end SIs, SAPLabs, Web AS range, IS Retails, Navision has a huge network of integrators all across the country with MOSS, QAD is an old one and gotten into the Auto-segment, which forces Oracle to operate on price discount offerings and sweeteners, especially under presure situations to capture significant percentage of the ERP market pie.
In a recession market e.g. 2009 - it is nonsense to push new ERP on customers as most likely it is cheaper for them to hire two VB+ programmers and a few MS licenses and ride the year out.
Check out this link: http://www.oracle.com/global/uk/pressroom/2007/7008.html as an example.
For a sales person in IT ware and especially the kind of maturity in terms of range of solutions and possibilities, arguments of new and existing customers dont matter. Build the infrastructure or the pipeline, you then only meter the customer for whatever he wants whether it is water or oil or sherbet, it does not matter.
I personally feeling New and Existing customers for Oracle / SAP / Microsoft customers is a debate of immature minds. These customers sell mind-ware, they have commoditized these mind-ware into nearly 10,000 plus SKUs, and a mindware SKU is a simply a license, u sell it and u still have the product and its copy with u for another sale.
Catch 30-40 such Partners and get them to extend their wares and networks in India. Invest in training partners, the rest will come like chickens following a trail of its corn to be your captive daily tandoori.
By
Alexander Lewis, Marketing Manager, self
| 03 27 2009 07:05:39 +0000
New Customers are important because existing customer if satisfied will automatically route new leads to us,but new customer need lot of attention before we bag them into our client list.New customer has lot of question and doubts before they choose us + We can make good deal because new client is not aware about our offers or negotiation done with the existing client,whereas the existing client references cannot be manipulated because they might share our offers and negotiation with the existing client,so if we give them good price then existing client might feel cheated or vice a versa.
By
pramod , Technical Support Manager, Ost
| 03 19 2009 12:04:15 +0000
I think it will be new customers because you might have already sold your IT product to the customer (existing one) and left with no leads, Then what will the company do ? I think it should look for a new customers because company can't sell same product to the existing customers again and again, i t should focus on new customers also.
By
Pragya Kothari, Construction-Heavy, DLF
| 02 13 2009 09:45:07 +0000
It is important to retain the exisiting customers and continous business from them, but it is always advisable to concentrate on new clientele as it is challenging for both the individual and the organization as it paves the way for career growth for the individual and enrich the organization with managing varied requirements.
By
Vinayarajan KV, Head/VP/GM-Sales, EP Tech
| 09 07 2008 22:11:30 +0000
New customers are better, because they give you sales of much higher proportions and they even keep your workforce ready and packed with newer skills. So if you have to choose go for new customers. Try retaining old ones, but new according to me are better.
By
Navneet Rai, Sales/BD Manager, Infosys
| 09 06 2008 09:31:47 +0000
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I fully support Srikanth here, statistically speaking, it is 7 times easier to maintain an existing client relation, than to tap a new one. It just makes a good business strategy to try to maintain as many existing clients as you can and cross-sell the products/services to them as they understand you well and most important is that they rely on you. This will allow you to plan ahead and budget more for the future. If you take care of someone, they will tell others. this is called Word of Mouth, Marketing, customers make the pitch for your new client acquisition, If you have a referral program that encourages this, they will often tell many more. Getting referrals from your clients is incredibly more effective than trying to get new clients.The bottom line is, your most efficient and effective way of maintaining and GROWING your business is to take care of existing clients and encourage referral. Trying to tap a new client is 7-10 times costlier than tapping the existing client. How come, then, do most organizations spend most of their budget on marketing to new prospect vs. taking care of their existing client base? This is the mistake made by most businesses and once they realize just how backward their thinking is and they start taking care of their existing clients, their profits often soar. Don't Look For New Clients - Keep Your Existing Ones Happy !
By
Shiv Kumar, Region Head, Pressmart Media Limited
| 05 12 2010 06:42:45 +0000
In case of most of the IT firms which are Service based, it is the existing customers who give more and more repeat business to the IT biggies than new customers.
By
Rajiv Shekhar Bhandari, Presales & Business Development (U.S.), Magic Software Pvt. Ltd.
| 02 16 2010 13:13:25 +0000
It is quite difficult to justify. Without new customers you can't progress. And without serving an existing customer you can't make more business. However you can't always just look for new customers. If you are always looking new customers means, something wrong with your products or your service. When customer is happy with the product you sell or service you offer you will get more business from the existing base. You can keep pushing your services to them and make regular income from them.
By
Sreenivas Dogiparthy, Technical Manager, Intercorp Solutions Pte Ltd
| 01 24 2010 04:18:28 +0000
Hi one n all, I would support for existing customers and also new customers as per situation, for instance now the there is demand in market for some xyz product then most of them any marketer will contact existing dealers with him from the inception of his business so he will contact dealers who know him and about his business so he can easliy sell the product to these existing dealers coz he has build an rapport with him from many years so the dealers will trust him and take the product from him but to expand your business u have to keep the new customer database in pipieline , if the existing customer is satisfied with the product and services then he will suggest the new customer to buy this product for example nokia, samsung,sony ericsson, axe, or any fmcg products. so the equation is simple both new customer and existing customers are thr resource of any business and u have to retain both of them to operate your business smoother and richer to create your own brand name. In recesssion , it really works with existing customers to expect to buy products more products from one shop he/she knows not the new one , but its possiblity is depending on how creative he is in marketing and sale of his new products which u can attract both old and new customers all depends on customer interest and knowledge to buy the product. So my conclusion both the parties are correct at their place.
By
VinodKosgi , Associate - HR & Admin, Pennywise Solutions Pvt Ltd.
| 06 06 2009 05:17:36 +0000
We in sales should always remain focused on the existing customers, when there is enough business with existing customer, no need for new customers, ofcourse we can be in touch base with new customers always, whenever the need arises we can utilize those contacts or leads and convert into new clients, Regards G.Shri Murugan 9677334444
By
G.Shri Murugan, Manager - Recruitment, Human Craft
| 05 26 2009 04:45:40 +0000
HAd some exposure to CRM and associated software like salesforce.com, ACT, clarify etc. for both retail and enterprise sales. Software helps in knowledge retention, integrated custmer detail, contact history, supervisory aand manegemnt window, workflow automation etc. As far as serving existing customer is concerned: it do not have any acquisition cost attached, easier to build on exisitng relationship, make additonal sales, prossibility of up sell /cross sell.
By
Sanjay Chaudhary, Former GM-Global Business, Reliance Communications Limited
| 05 02 2009 10:53:20 +0000
Existing Customers are more important . New customer also equally important for an Organization's growth. For acquiring each and every new customer the existing customer can be a case study or refferal.
By
Manoj , Branch Manager/Regional Manager Path Infotech Ltd
| 04 08 2009 11:29:14 +0000
Mr.Srikanth i agree with you that in times like these one should leverage on the existing clients as you have a set relationship with them and you know exactly what are their needs and how you should provide it.But I would also say that new customers are as important as the old ones because you want your business to grow and moreover you can't always depends on the old customers as you may never know when you will lose them.
So a company should give equal importance to existing and the new customers to achieve greater heights.
What do you say?
By
Ramdas Pawar, Sales/BD Manager, Flex
| 04 08 2009 10:53:12 +0000
- Over a 5 year period businesses my lose as many as 1/2 of their customers over a 5 year period.
- Acquiring a new customer can cost 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing customer.
- Businesses who boosted customer retention rates by as little as
5% saw increases in their profits ranging from 5% to a whopping 95%.
By
Viktor Stephen, COO, I Entrepreneur
| 04 08 2009 09:29:22 +0000
We should agree with Srikanth, targeting existing customer in this downturn is very much important than the new customers...
By
Kushal Das, Sales/BD Manager, SAP
| 02 17 2009 13:04:54 +0000
In my view one should give more importance to the existing customers, with proper customer care and good services one can gain more number of new customers via viral marketing or by the word of mouth with your existing customers referring many of the new customers.
By
Anuj Mishra, Sales/BD Manager, Infosys
| 02 16 2009 12:38:32 +0000
PRAGYA one should focus on new customers also, I too agree with you but I believe that existing customer are more important because the easiest way to get new customers are by old customers. They are the one who can help you out with leads, referrals etc...which in turn helps the organisation to sell the IT products without spending much.
By
Bipin Ghosh, Sales/BD Manager, Infosys
| 02 16 2009 11:15:11 +0000
Well its always easy to engage a existing customer and get business from. Business depends on relationship, brand of the company and the high level of support which really delights the customer. Mostly 80% of business will come from 20% of your existing customers which proves that existing customer matter more. The cost involved to get new customers is very high but surely to gain more market share and foot hold new customers are very essential. Furthermore existing customers will always be the best of reference to get new customers which itself proves that they are to be valued more.
By
Amjith Ali, Sales/BD Manager, SP Sysnet Pte Ltd
| 02 13 2009 09:40:44 +0000
If we don't care existing customers might be we can increase chances to loose new customers.
By
Deepak Kumar, Sales Executive/Officer, GDC
| 02 08 2009 04:55:42 +0000
Well. this is a little tricky question, however in a business perspective, the cost of sale to an existing customer is much lower than to a new customer. Moreover , it is very important to satisfy and retain existing accounts as it helps create and sustain your brand value in the market place which in turn will result into new business/revenue. So, it is very important to stay focussed onto your existing relationships besides growing new business. In a nutshell one happy & satisfied customer helps create more business for you through word of mouth as your brand recall rate is very high. At the same time one unhappy & dissatisfied client may propagate his unhealthy experiences with you in the market place which can result in deterring prospective customers away from you!!!
By
Srikanth Sakhumalla, Sales/BD Manager
| 09 08 2008 21:37:40 +0000
Existing customers are better because they give you regular business and also you can analyze and comprehend there needs better, so I would suggest if you have to stick to one, make sure that your existing customers remain with you only.
By
Mohit Aggarwal, Sales/BD Manager, Oracle
| 09 06 2008 09:28:39 +0000
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