So, I’m sitting in my office the other day and a new HVAC contractor for SpeedClean walks into to do some work on the vents. Turns out we had some issues with dampers and thermostats etc. This guys was different than the usual group I see and so I introduced myself and we got to talking. Nice guy, just starting out on his own after working 20 years for other people. I wish him the best.

I then got to talking with our facility management about why we had a new guy. Turns out the people we’ve been using for years just don’t talk to us. They don;t call to see how things were. They don;t come by just to make sure we’re happy. They don’t do anything but call a week before the scheduled (and expensive) service.

It got me thinking. If you have a $100 to spend in order to make money would you;

  • A) Spend it on trying to get new customers or
  • B) Spend it on trying to get more business from existing customers

If you have a top notch customer service and account management process then by all means, spend it on A, but that’s not the case for many small businesses and especially the company we were dealing with. Account management 101 is making sure that existing customers are satisfied with your service and are therefore amenable to your sales calls. This company did none of that. They not only charged a large premium, but never called to make sure service was acceptable or called to discuss other valuable aspects of our business. Now I can’t blame them too much. Turns out that no-one has “ownership” of the relationship. It’s a concept foreign in their business model. So what happened? A good customer fell through the cracks and we went somewhere else. All we needed was the right guy to give us the right pitch and boom, we were gone.

So, when you are looking at ways to make more money in your business think of account management 101. Take ownership of your accounts and call you existing customers. Make sure they are happy with their service. Offer them something of value for being a valuable customer. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the reaction –  and revenue- your receive in return.