Quick Win + Pro Tip: Capitalize on Existing Connections to Grow Your Business

When looking to increase your business and revenue, there are two important (and easy!) ways that sales organizations often overlook.

No, it’s not new networking events or cold calling strangers. In fact, neither strategy involves reaching out to anyone outside of your existing network at all.

The first is within your client pool.

Odds are, you know who your top five or ten customers are right now. I bet you can picture them.

“Okay,” you may be thinking. “They’re already my customers, and that’s great. But what opportunity is there for growth with them?”

It’s easy for us to assume that our biggest customers are already using every single service we offer that is relevant to their business, industry, and needs. It often isn’t the case.

The fact of the matter is, customers we’ve worked with for a long time often only think of us as providing the exact services they’re used to receiving from our team. We get pigeon holed and thought of as the group that does “X”, when in fact, there is so much more that we offer.

Over time, our organization and our capabilities grow. We add new tools to our belt, hire new talent, gain new skills, and expand into new markets. It’s easy to take for granted that our existing clients know about all the ways we’ve changed or leveled up over time.

Just as often, we fall into the same trap with the ways we perceive our clients. We’re so sure we know about their needs, we forget that their organizations have changed too - and so have the solutions they need.

Here’s what you can do to expand within your existing client pool:

• Make a list of your ten biggest customer
  
• Under each customer, list all the ways they are currently working with your team and all the services they use
  
• Think about the last time you talked to them about your capabilities
  
• Write down all of the things your team does now that you didn’t do then. Do you have any new equipment? Are you starting to offer new services? Do you have new offerings or capabilities altogether?
  

Now that you know where these gaps are, it’s time to reach out. Schedule some time to meet with your contacts at each organization and have a conversation about all of your team’s capabilities and how their organization can benefit from them. You may just find that one of your biggest customers gets even bigger.


The second place salespeople often forget to check isn’t necessarily in their current customer base - it’s within the pool of connections they already have but don’t talk to regularly.

When one of these connections has a career change, whether it’s a promotion, a new job, or a totally new industry, it can often present you with the opportunity to connect with a new team or even organization. 

LinkedIn is a powerful tool in keeping up with these connections.

Start by going to your profile and checking to see if anyone you’ve worked with, submitted a proposal to, or even networked with previously has had any career changes. If so, reach out!

Congratulate them on their promotion, new job, or exciting new adventure and try to start a conversation.

The best case scenario, it turns out they’re looking for somebody who provides the exact same services you do. The timing is perfect for both of your teams: you get a new opportunity and they’re able to solve a challenge or provide a solution to their team.

Worst case scenario, it turns out their team or new organization already has somebody that provides your services. Of course, even in that event, your time was still well spent. You never know what could change in the future, what other connections they may have, or who else they’ll refer you to.


​When looking to grow our organizations and expand our business, the natural instinct is often to find new customers. And while new business is incredibly important to ongoing growth, expanding within your current customer base and capitalizing on the connections you’ve already built allows you to quickly find opportunities you didn’t know existed.