Sales are down 15-25% for stone fabricators. Sound familiar? The entire industry is feeling the squeeze, and panic has set in. The knee-jerk reaction? Hire more salespeople. That’s an OK strategy, but before you rush into that, there are a couple of things you should do first—things that will be far more effective for your future.
Right now, your best customers—the ones who’ve been loyal, the ones you count on—are sitting on someone else’s prospect list. Every fabricator is focused on chasing new sales, but the smartest move you can make is to get close—really close—to the clients you already have. When was the last time you, the owner, took them to lunch? Grab a beer and ask, “What are some ways we can strengthen your business? What can my team do differently?”
Think about it: This is how you started your business—by solving someone else’s problems. It’s still the best way to keep your customers coming back.
I love taking my fabricator clients’ best customers to lunch. It’s not uncommon to walk away with three pages of notes! Did we fix all their problems? No, and they didn’t expect us to. After one recent meeting, we tackled a key issue and even developed new tech to solve it. The result? Monthly sales jumped from $33K to $77K. Coincidence? I think not.
This will have two major impacts:
- Your relationships will only grow stronger: Your clients will trust that you’re invested in their success, and that kind of loyalty is invaluable.
- You’ll create new capabilities: By understanding and solving their problems, you’ll innovate—developing new products or processes that your competitors don’t have. Do this enough, and when the economy bounces back (as it always does), you’ll be leading the pack with new capabilities, and your sales will skyrocket.
P.S.
Have you scheduled a lunch with your top client yet? You never know what insights you’ll uncover—we ended up creating new tech to solve one client’s biggest challenge, and it doubled their monthly sales. Imagine what you could discover.
Bonus: Subscribe to our Insights —next week I’ll be sharing a free PDF of powerful questions you can ask at lunch to deepen those relationships. You won’t want to miss it.
