I blogged to my clients this morning that they need to be spending their time on customer retention as much as on acquisition. Then I got my Monday morning email that stated:

CUSTOMER RETENTION - If you aren't talking to your customers about renewing their contracts - trust me the Direct Sales force of Qwest, Verizon and AT&T ARE.  All three carriers are using their Direct Teams to mine Agent accounts.  -  It cost more to get a new customer versus maintaining and growing your existing base.


HOW TO UPSELL IN A DOWN ECONOMY - Agent Quote - " If I'm not helping my customers with all their telecom needs, then someone else will."   With it being the start of a new year now is the time to set up appointment with your top 25 customers and discuss their business and how you can help them.  Don't assume they don't do conference calling because almost every business does these days.  If you aren't talking to them about it, someone else will.  Same holds true with wireless, disaster recover, data back up and collocation.  Yearly audits are essential.