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The looming new year sometimes means we have client agreements coming up for renewals. This can be a bit scary as we wonder if they will renew, will they try to cut back expenditures? Will they NOT renew?
Renewals often require increasing rates. Most salespeople will not want to rock the boat. Have you ever tried to sneak a new agreement past your manager using last year's rates?
Renewal time should be a time to find ways to better serve our clients. Business is evolving rapidly tossed about by external factors beyond our control. These shifting sands require businesses to constantly change how they do business. The marketing plan they used last year, last quarter or even last week may need to be changed. It's almost a certainty that their message will need to be changed.
Before we ask for a renewal, we need to sit with our clients and do a needs analysis. We need to benchmark the business. We need to know what has changed. We need to know what they anticipate the next year to be like.
Here are some questions we need to ask:
How has your business changed in 2022? Up, down, flat?
What are the major challenges you are facing now?
How have these changed this year?
What concerns you most about 2023?
If it's supply chain, ask what they can get, what they can't get. When do they expect it to loosen up?
If it's staff, how has this affected the business specifically? Shorter hours? Days?
Is revenue back to 2019 levels? Exceeding 2019 levels?
Has your store traffic returned?
Any lingering effects of 2020?
Where do you want to be by the end of 2023?
What needs to happen to get you there?
How have your profit centers shifted?
What will it be important for your customers to know about you in the next few months and 2023?
Are you seeing smaller orders? Less people? A combination of both?
How important to you is being involved with community events?
You probe for changes in the business. You ascertain goals and objectives for 2023. You understand your client's perceptions of his world. These new challenges can trigger changes in how they have been advertising. If clients have not been using effective schedules, you may now find ways to introduce them to doing so.
If clients believe our campaigns can help them to solve problems, they will give us money. Renewals start with understanding where the client's business is NOW and where they want to be at the end of 2023.
Take the time to understand. It's not about us: it's about them. Easier renewals await!
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