VSA has partnered with more than 1,000 clients on cold-calling campaigns and other lead generation efforts over the past two-plus decades, and if it were up to us, we’d still be doing business with each and every one of them.
Of course, that’s not realistic, but every time we begin a partnership with a new client, the goal is to sustain the relationship for as long as possible. Obviously, that helps our bottom line, but more importantly, it means we’re providing genuine value to our clients: generating worthwhile leads, scheduling quality sales appointments, gathering meaningful market intelligence, and, ultimately, delivering ROI-positive results.
Client retention isn’t always easy, especially in the often-complex world of B2B sales, but it’s a key component of one of our core values: “We strive to be exceptional—with our clients, our prospects, and each other.”
This mindset has helped us retain a number of past and present clients for multiple years, and countless others for far longer than their initial contracts. We pride ourselves on being not just a vendor to our clients, but a true collaborative partner, committed to communication, flexibility, transparency, accountability, and attentiveness.
Here are five of the most important steps to building and sustaining long-term partnerships:
1. Be aligned on expectations
One of the questions we ask new clients during onboarding is: “What are your sales goals for this campaign?”
In most cases, the answer is optimistic, but reasonable. Every so often, though, a client will suggest a number that even Alec Baldwin’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross might deem unattainable.
It’s important to have realistic expectations, based on factors such as the cost and complexity of the product or service, the target decision-makers we’re trying to reach, the number of agreed-upon calling hours, and past results on similar programs. By aligning expectations regarding conversations, appointments, and other success metrics before the launch of the campaign, both VSA and our client know exactly when a program is thriving or struggling, and can work in tandem address any issues.
2. Have a plan … but be willing to deviate from it
Before launching any new campaign, VSA collaborates closely with our clients on the prospect list, the messaging, common objections and rebuttals, the cadence of calls and emails, and any program-specific challenges that might arise. It’s a back-and-forth process, usually lasting two to three weeks, that ensures our team is as prepared as possible when the calling begins.
But none of these steps are ever set in stone. VSA is a data-driven organization and never takes a “set-it-and-forget-it approach.” By closely analyzing what’s working and what isn’t and pivoting accordingly, we help our clients’ campaigns continue to run smoothly over an extended stretch of time. Even such seemingly simple tweaks as an added sentence in the phone script or a different link in an email could make a difference. Such flexibility is key to a successful program, especially for clients with multiple offerings and target lists.
Says a VSA Program Manager who works with one of our long-time clients: “They’re very good at having us try different things. At one point, they had us try a whole different offering, which didn’t work out. So it was fine—they pulled that one back and went with something else. With most clients, it’s all about us learning together.”
3. Analyzing, uptraining, and appreciating our BDRs
VSA’s Business Development Representatives are the heart and soul of all our calling campaigns. They’re the ones representing our clients and communicating directly with prospects on the phone. In many cases, that conversation could be the very first time a prospect has heard of our client’s product or service. Client longevity relies heavily on our BDRs’ ability to professionally represent their company and earn the trust of the people they’re calling.
“Client retention all starts with the BDRs—uptraining them to improve performance and quality, and making sure they feel appreciated,” says Dawn Stolte, VSA’s Senior Vice President of Operations. “We look at all calls from week to week and analyze how everyone is doing to find the high-performing BDRs, and then we have the lower-level BDRs listen to the high performers so they can learn from their successful calls.”
Sharing call recordings is even more crucial in the current work-from-home environment. “You’re not hearing the person next to you and how they handle a call,” Dawn says. “So making sure our BDRs get to hear what their colleagues are doing is a big thing we’re working on to help deliver the best possible results for our clients.”
4. Don’t assume success … or failure
VSA’s work on an individual record is not necessarily done when a prospect says yes … or no. Just as a prospect who agrees to an appointment is no guarantee of a future sale, a prospect who says “not interested” could still be a potential customer.
In the first example, there’s a temptation to want to celebrate when a BDR successfully schedules an appointment. But if the no-show rates on those appointments are high, or if most of the prospects who show up for the meeting aren’t truly qualified, the appointments are of little value to our client and reduce the chance of a long-term partnership.
There are multiple steps we take to increase the quality of appointments and decrease no-shows: Consulting with the client to add qualifying questions to the script; reiterating the purpose of the meeting during the initial call; asking a prospect to click “accept” on the meeting link while still on the phone; making reminder calls a day or two before the meeting; or anything else the client might suggest that adds value to a scheduled appointment.
On the flip side, a “no” on a cold call doesn’t have to be the end of the line. Perhaps the prospect was in the middle of something important and needed to rush off the phone. Maybe he or she wasn’t actually the decision-maker. Or the timing wasn’t right. Or the budget wasn’t finalized yet. Or a million other reasons why they said no this time, but might say yes the next.
Unless we hear a valid reason to close a record, VSA’s practice is to call back a few weeks later, with the logic being the prospect has forgotten the initial call. The strategy with one long-term client is to even call back on closed records (four to six months later), because you never know when needs will have changed, or new decision-makers will be in place.
5. Never rest on our laurels
Even if a program is meeting or exceeding expectations, we’re constantly collaborating with clients and evaluating internal practices to ensure continued success. Ten meetings one week could easily turn into one the next if we’re not following the measures that allowed us to be successful in the first place.
Dawn puts it best: “Just because a client is with us a long time, it doesn’t mean we can sit back and relax. We still have to sit back and say, ‘How can we make this client more successful?’ We never want to keep the status quo. If we want to keep our clients, we always have to be looking for ways to move up.”
If you’re looking to grow your business and fill your sales pipeline, give us a call. Who knows, it might be the start of a long and fruitful partnership.