Sick of being a ‘One Sale Wonder’? How else can you serve your customers?

One of the biggest killers of highly profitable businesses is the ‘One Sale Wonder’.

Now we’re all in business to serve our customers.  So we must believe that we provide value for what we do.

And from that logic, you should be safe to assume that any additional services you’re able to provide to suitable customers are a good thing for those customers.

Not only is it that you will better serve your customers, but the easiest ways to increase revenue (and ideally profit!) is to increase the number of times or dollar amount that an existing customer buys from you.

So how do we transition from a ‘One Sale Wonder’ to a business that serves its clients to the best extent?

So what am I referring to as a ‘One Sale Wonder’?

Really, it’s any business with a strong focus on:

• the first sale;
• a once-off sale; or
• haven’t yet looked at a business model of providing ‘after sales service’.

The first businesses that come to mind are:

• Digital agencies who focus on the build of the website
• The painter who just paints a house
• The mortgage broker who sorts out a home loan
• An electrician who installs solar power systems
• An audiologist who sells hearing aids
• The cleaning company who work primarily for end of lease bond cleans
• Even cafe’s with meeting rooms for hire

Yes, of course.  I get that customers sometimes want the bare minimum or only see the value in the initial ‘bump’.  But we must strive to serve our customers to the maximum that our businesses can.

Here’s how you can avoid being a ‘One Sale Wonder’

1. Change your business model to incorporate ‘after sales service’
2. Create or sell additional services to your existing customers
3. Work with partners who provide the ‘next logical step’

Changing your business model

For this, let’s take the digital agency as an example.

What about changing the whole focus of your business; your marketing, the language you use, the sales process – all to focus on the ongoing value of content creation vs reacting when a prospect asks for a website?

It may take a bit of education with your market on your behalf, but the rewards of this will work wonders for your recurring revenue.

Additional services to your existing customers

Look at the table below. Which quadrant do you think would be the easiest to sell to?

Of course, the answer is the bottom left—selling services you already have to clients you already know.

But businesses often focus on selling to the bottom right quadrant instead. Take our advice, and stick with what you know and who you know.

And if you don’t have existing services yet, do get into product development mode and work with your team to identify the needs of your clients and if you’re in a position to provide them.

Work with Partners

Working with partners who provide the ‘logical next step’ to your customer, or who provide the step before needing yours.

They can provide the leads for your business (if they are the step before needing yours), or you could negotiate a referral agreement or partnership with customers that you send (if they are the next logical step after you).

Let’s review the examples from above moving away from a ‘One Sale Wonder’