The Annual Customer Review

by Graham Denton

To keep customers beyond the close, you need to maintain regular contact. One good way to do that is to conduct what Tony Alessandra and Rick Barrera, authors of Collaborative Selling, call an annual customer review. You should conduct these reviews, they suggest, not just to secure repeat or incremental business, but to see how your previous solutions have been working out and -- not least of all -- to demonstrate that your interest in your clients' businesses transcends the immediate return of a close-plus-commission. The agenda should include the following items:

• An airing of any customer complaints. Not the most pleasant part of the agenda, but it ought to come first.
• Your plans for dealing with any of these complaints.
• The customer's assessment of how he or she sees the overall relationship with your company. Which areas are working well and which could be strengthened?
• An exploration of emerging trends in the customer's industry which could offer opportunities for mutual success.
• The presentation of one new "idea, service, product, or promotional deal" which could spark the customer's interest in added business.

Look also, say Alessandra and Barrera, for signs of trouble. Even if the customer is not forthcoming about being dissatisfied with you and your company, be alert to signs of change in the relationship. Be especially sensitive to a decrease in rapport, news of a change in management or ownership, personal changes in the customer's life, an unsolicited reference to one of your competitors, and a sudden decrease in orders. These and other threats can surface at any time, even in the most "stable" relationships. An annual review helps you address them before they become disasters.

Three further tips for conducting such reviews. First, Alessandra and Barrera suggest, in preparing to meet your customers, organize the agenda ahead of time, being sure to put at the top of the list those "areas where your company fell short of expectations," along with your company's plans for correcting the problems. Second, be sure you bring with you any documentation you will need to demonstrate how your relationship has been going for the past twelve months. Finally, take notes during the review and send the customer a clean, typed report of what transpired within 24 hours. That's a kind of "follow-up to the follow-up" which speaks volumes about professionalism.