What You Should REALLY Do with Those Smaller Accounts

How do you handle those smaller accounts that take up so much time and return so little revenue and profit?

Conventional wisdom would tell you to just let them go. They are too small to worry about. They are time-suckers. You’ve got better things to do. If they won’t go away on their own, ignore them until they do.

I have a different thought for you...

What if you treated these accounts with the same amount of attention as you do your largest and most important clients? Instead of pushing them away, pull them in and make them feel cherished.

Why? Why would you want to take this tact?

Years ago, I heard Ross Perot give a speech. He was, by far, the best presenter I have ever come across. Mr. Perot talked about walking into a Cadillac dealer one Saturday. He told us he drives an old, beat-up pickup truck and he showed up to the dealership in dusty overalls with mud on his work boots.

Not one salesman approached him. He just did not look like a man who was going to buy a Cadillac.

I believe his net worth at the time was something around $6 billion.

Ross Perot drove home in the same beat-up pickup truck.

Had someone taken the time, not only would they have sold a car that day but they would've tapped into a pretty powerful network. But they thought he was small potatoes and ignored him, hoping he would go away.

Instead of making the assumption that small accounts have no value, assume that they know someone who knows someone who works for a humongous company that you want to do business with.

Stranger things have been known to happen.

Bill Farquharson is a Vice President at NAPL. His training programs can drive the sales of print reps and selling owners. Check out his Sales Resources page and contact him at (781) 934-7036 or bfarquharson@napl.org