Building a Strong Pipeline in the Midst of Losing Clients

You could have the best products, the best services, and the best employees in the world, but there are still certain threats that no business is safe from. COVID-19 is one of those threats. The pandemic has put businesses everywhere under extreme financial stress, one of the biggest reasons being that all businesses are losing clients right now.

Reality #1 to realize at a time like this: all businesses are going to lose clients. The sooner you embrace and accept this reality, the better off your business will be. When you lose clients, the best way to fill those gaps is to obviously fill your pipeline with more leads. While that task may seem impossible right now, it’s the perfect time.

During a time when you’re inevitably going to lose clients, here’s how you can fill your pipeline to make it bigger and stronger than ever.

Create a strong list of prospective clients

The first step towards building a strong sales pipeline is creating a strong list of prospective customers. Your top priority right now should be to gather a big group of companies who you feel could benefit from what you do (or possibly a variation of what you do). You should be building a bigger list than you ever have before to offset the number of clients you’re losing at this time. Once you have a great list together, start reaching out to as many people as possible.

Fill your calendar and have meaningful conversations

Now is the time to go full-force and have impactful conversations with prospects. Rethink your strategy and ask yourself the following questions:

What can companies use that you offer during this time?
Is there a new service you could offer (a variation of a current service) based on a need you see in the market? How can you cater to all needs right now?
Can you offer value by sharing knowledge and expertise with potential customers?
Would it be valuable for you to share what your company is doing to combat these tough times?

Regardless of the types of conversations you’re having or what approach you decide to take, make sure you’re filling up your calendar with meetings and having meaningful conversations as often as you can. Start engaging with as many people as possible, as fast as possible so that you can fill the gaps and be successful during a time when most businesses are suffering.

Build connections and keep in touch

Building connections with people and keeping in touch with them is an important part of any sales program. A healthy sales pipeline means you have an active list of companies that are a good fit for your service and you’re talking to them regularly. Even though this is always important, it’s especially important right now.

Now is the time to talk to as many people as possible. Not only will engaging with prospects help you offset the number of clients you lose, but it will also help you achieve top of mind awareness. When the time comes and a potential customer does need a provider, who are they going to look to—someone they know and trust, or a new provider that they’ve never heard of?

Important: make sure you can offset what you’re losing

Some math to consider:

Let’s say, for example, you lose five clients in one day. Let’s also say that you know for a fact your close rate is 1 out of every 10 companies you talk to. Do you know what 50 companies you’re going to talk to tomorrow to backfill those five clients that you lost?

As a business owner, thinking through this math is important. It can put things into perspective and show you exactly how hard your team needs to work to make it through this. Yes, these are challenging times for everyone, but harder work is going to pay off and help your business thrive, and the simple math proves it.

Make Sure You Can Fill Your Pipeline

We’ve established the importance of talking to as many companies as possible, so now how are you going to execute this strategy? Do you have the team and tools to do more than you’ve ever done before? Even though it’s stressful times for all businesses, you’re going to have to talk to a lot of companies if you want to be unaffected by the inevitable reality of losing clients.

How are you going to start talking to a lot of companies and filling the gaps? Is your sales team going to start making more dials? Will your marketing team start sending out more emails? Or, do you need to find a partner that is experienced in doing this efficiently and professionally? Abstrakt Marketing Group offers lead generation services that can help you build a strong sales pipeline even in the midst of the challenges that COVID-19 presents.

Whether you need help generating leads or just need more tips to help your business, we’re here to help. Contact us today to learn more or talk with an expert.