Existing customers are the life’s blood of many business models. In the 2017 World-Class Sales Practices Study, sales organizations reported that, on average, 68% of their revenues came from existing customers, with 58.7% coming from just the top 20% of their customer base.
There are many benefits to having a strong book of existing customers, not just the obvious revenue numbers. Sales cycles for new opportunities within an existing customer are generally half as long as those for opportunities being pursued with new prospects, 8.0 vs 4.3 months, according to study participants. Not to mention that revenue from existing customers is more predictable and easier to forecast.
So it is not a surprise that sales organizations place a strong emphasis on renewals. And fortunately, most (70.4%) organizations feel fairly comfortable with their team’s abilities to renew existing business. However, to just focus on renewals misses an opportunity to leverage your existing account
