Should you take care of your current customers, or go after new business and fresh opportunities? The answer is yes. Always yes. But here comes the tough part—doing both and doing them well can be a challenge.
Let’s face it – customer relationships matter. Strong ones help you better understand their preferences and what makes them tick. That kind of insight isn’t just nice to have; it’s the fuel that helps separate you from the pack. It powers the service from your team, more targeted and relevant solutions and keeps you in that trusted advisor role. Relationships also build trust—and in this business, trust is currency. Work to keep your promises, communicate clearly (and early), and make your clients feel like partners, not purchase orders. That’s how loyalty is built. That’s how accounts stick.
And yes, great clients who love what you do will talk about you. Word-of-mouth and referrals are still a powerful driver in print. Advocacy is earned, not bought—and your relationships can make your clients your best marketing channel. If you’re using a Net Promoter Score survey tool, you know what I’m talking about.
But even the best relationship can be tested by a late delivery or a billing mess, right? And what happens when the buyer moves on? If your business is built solely on a rep-to-contact relationship, you’re vulnerable. The companies that win long term are the ones who create company-to-company bonds and inter-company teams—stronger, more resilient, and less likely to disappear when one person changes jobs.
Here’s the kicker: when your company owns the relationship, your sales reps get to do what they were hired to do and what they are uniquely qualified to do—sell. Not just manage existing accounts but go out and bring in the next big one and the one after that. This challenges some of the old-school thinking, I know. The “find it, close it, manage it forever” model has its limits, especially if growth is the goal.
If your reps are doing a great job juggling both—awesome, you’re ahead of the curve. But if they’ve become more account manager than hunter, it might be time to re-think how client relationships are managed and how new business is pursued in your organization.
Read the rest of this story on Printing Impressions.
