How long has it been since you did a full needs analysis with your best long-term client? You might be surprised at how much has changed.

Photo by Maruba

It’s easy to let that sort of thing slip.

• You negotiate “the annual”.
• You take the client to lunch once a quarter.
• You bring them concert tickets every now and then.
• You call periodically to “check in.”
• A year later, it’s time to negotiate “the annual” again.

If you haven’t been paying attention, you may get an unpleasant surprise — a lot can change in a year.

Recently I had an opportunity to find out exactly how much could change. I presented an advertising plan to a roofing company…more than a year after the needs analysis meeting. 

I’ll explain.

In the spring of 2017, I met with the roofers for about an hour. They gave me a lot of information on their history, their customers, their business model, and their goals. We scheduled a presentation for two weeks later, and I got to work on an advertising plan.

The day of the presentation, the roofers canceled the meeting. We rescheduled it and they canceled again. I left town, we scheduled a webinar, and they canceled again.

We gave up. A year went by.

I came back to the market to work with the TV station again.

On a whim, the Account Executive called the roofing company and told them I was coming back. They wanted to meet with me. But they only had time for one meeting.

No new needs analysis — we had to work with the year-old data from the last one. We decided it was better than no opportunity at all. 

Our plan: dust off our old presentation, update the rates, and give it our best shot. How much could change in a year?

I opened the meeting by saying, “Gentlemen, everything I’m about to present to you is based on year-old information. If I say something that no longer applies, raise your hand and correct me, and we’ll make adjustments as necessary.”

They stopped me on the first slide.

A year earlier, 90% of their installations were foam roofs. Now foam was less than 50% — since our last meeting, they had diversified into TPO, metal and shingle roofs. 

In the spring of 2017, they’d wanted to dominate foam. Now, they didn’t want to be known as a foam roof company anymore.

So… completely new business model.

This was a problem, since the creative concept I’d put together was focused on selling foam. 

As we moved on, more change became evident.

A year earlier they’d been at the bottom of Page 2 on Google for general roofing. Their big priority then was to get onto Google’s Page 1. As a result, a big part of our recommended strategy involved SEO.

This no longer applied, either — since then they’d put a lot of money and effort into SEO and were ranking well now.

At this point, we stopped presenting and started asking questions. It was clear the whole basis for our presentation was obsolete.

We asked for a few days to re-write the TV script and the entire advertising plan.

We wound up getting the money… but we had to dance to get it.

Lesson learned.

The Sales Lesson:
Do a Deep Needs Analysis Regularly

If you’ve been working with a client for a long time, it’s easy to assume that you’ve got a handle on their business. 

But you don’t know what you don’t know.

• Market conditions change.
• Budgets change.
• Departments reorganize.
• Goals change.

Maybe the client will actively keep you up to date on all the changes. But it really helps to ask.

For a significant advertiser, you should take the time to do a full needs analysis at least once a year. With a year-round customer (keep in mind that an “annual” can be longer than a year) the six-month mark is a good time to do it.

When you do that quarterly lunch, make a point of asking if there are any new developments. 

Finally, it doesn’t hurt to double-check once more at renewal time:

I’ve learned to open every meeting in which I ask for money this way:

“Before we begin, I need to ask a quick question. Has anything changed since our last meeting?”

A lot can change in a year if you’re not paying attention. Make a point of asking often.

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