Consolidation of Customers |
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The Challenge The ongoing trend of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) presents unique opportunities for the prepared sales force. Are you finding that your customers are consolidating? It’s a mixed blessing that can cause trouble for the unprepared and tremendous gains for the educated. Unprepared, you will find yourself facing realigned budgets, losing valuable contacts and fighting price wars. One of the first things that happens when customers merge is the consolidation of the accounting, administrative, sales and marketing functions. Often what follows is a reduction in force and a general cost-cutting mania. So how do you deal with these changes as a salesperson selling into the consolidated customer? The answer is simple in principle, but not so easy in execution. You must think of the new conglomerate as a new set of accessible customers. You need to re-evaluate your understanding of how this new entity will define value, as distinct from the way the old (un-merged) customer did. In short, you must learn effective cross-selling and, take a new approach to being consultative. That is to say, you must be totally customer-focused in a new way. How Huthwaite Can Help Our research shows that customers are willing to pay a premium, redefine the buyer/seller relationship, erect barriers to the seller’s competitors and establish the seller as a trusted adviser when:
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