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One thing I repeatedly find as I work with small business owners in Ireland is that very few of them maintain any kind of records or computerised database of clients and prospects (Customer Relationship Management CRM system). In this day and age of easily accessible and low cost technology it is really surprising to see that 80% of businesses are not keeping customer records in a proper system. Indeed even if they are using computers in other areas of their business for example bookkeeping very few Irish business owners are maximising the use of technology to improve their marketing. The same Irish small business owners that are complaining that they are finding it increasingly expensive and difficult to identify new customers for their products and services are not doing enough to keep in touch with their existing clients. The cost of gaining and doing business with a new customer is up to 12 times more expensive than it is to do business with and existing one. This is because you have already won the confidence of the customer and, providing they have had a good experience with you, they will feel that they have an existing affinity with your business. So before you spend your entire marketing budget on looking for and converting new customers think about how you can resell to the ones who have already done business with you. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense for an author to write a book and then sell it to one customer and then go back and write a second book. It would be much more lucrative to keep selling the first book and maximise its potential so that it provided an ongoing revenue stream far into the future. Once you understand the value of maximising your past customers you need to look at how you can implement some kind of system in your business to benefit from it. Each time you do business with a customer then you need to take note of their details and enter them into your computerised CRM system. What would happen if 3 days after they purchased from you they were to receive a card thanking them for doing business with you? Do you think that would make you begin to stand out from the competition? Perhaps then 4 weeks after the purchase you could give them a call just to see if everything is working properly for them. This kind of non threatening way of keeping in contact keeps you at the front of your customers’ minds and will make them more likely to refer others to your business. Three months later send them a special offer to 'valued existing customers only'. It really doesn't matter what you do as long as you do something. Before too long you will have a steady supply of business and you should be able to reduce your spend on attracting new customers and just focus on the ones you have.
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Author: Matthew Eve is a author and runs a marketing consultancy in Ireland.Read more of his articles at his irish marketing blog Visit our marketing article directory for a completely unique version of this article.
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