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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. It is approximately 6 to 12 times less expensive to sell to an existing customer than it is to sell to a new one. Think about it, an existing customer already knows where you are located, they know what services/products you provide. They have trusted you already to do business with them so it is much easier for them to do business with you again. Why waste large amounts of money on trying to find new customers if you are not, at the same time, working to look after the ones you already have. You wouldn’t expect to see a musician spending time and effort creating a new album and selling just one copy, then leaving it on the shelf and then going away and making another album. It makes much more sense to keep selling the same album as many times as you can as the cost of creating it has been borne once already. So once you have taken this point on board then it is time to go back to your business and look at how you can apply it. Every time a customer purchases from you then record their details, preferably in a computer, it doesn't have to be expensive even a simple Excel spreadsheet would be a good start. Then a few days later send the customer a postcard or an email thanking them for their business. This will knock their socks off, they won't expect it. Then a month after their initial purchase give them a call and find out if everything is going ok. Perhaps they might need something more to go with whatever it is you supplied them. Keep up the communication over time and a few months later perhaps you could send them some kind of gift card for ‘VIP clients only’. The key is to do something, and make it into a system in your business. 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 articles at his irish marketing blog Feel free to grab a unique version of this article from the Unique Articles Submission Service
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