Soar to Success December 2021

Darlene has found that many times executives want to build plans and strategies but have never gathered the correct data from their customers to help guide their planning. One example of Darlene’s “Customer Acceleration™” In our initial meeting with a new client, he laid out a list of lofty goals, but had not surveyed any of their customer base to better understand what they really wanted or needed. We completed 100 customer interviews and immediately found their second largest customer, valued at over $800,000 in annual sales, was leaving. The salesperson was telling his boss that the reason the customer’s sales had been gradually dropping was because they no longer needed their products and services, which was not true. The client loved the company and didn’t want to leave, but increased shipping fees and longer lead times for product delivery was causing the large customer to seek alternate suppliers. We presented our findings on Friday afternoon and onMonday morning, our client was able to save that relationship. Darlene’s data also led to the discovery that the company’s sales team was not actively pursuing additional business opportunities with their smaller customers. Her survey found that those bottom tier customers really loved them, but because no salesperson ever called on them, they didn’t know about additional services and products available. The company found they were able to increase sales to these bottom tier customers by 40%-70%. production number in the first six months of the year.” The company shewas working for incorporated many tactics she used. From that, she learned she could use her experience to help even more companies and decided to go out on her own. That led her ultimately t o Direct Opinions. Darlene won an award at John DiJulius annual conference in 2018 - and received her own bobblehead!