Past Customers of Your Small Business Can Be a Goldmine
Past customers are a neglected resource by most small business managers.
For one reason or another these people no longer purchase your goods or services.
But on the plus side they already know you.
It is considerably easier to sell to a past customer than it is to sell to a new customer.
It is also much more cost-effective.
There are two highly effective action steps that will help you to reactivate old customers.
Old customers can be a goldmine because they already know the quality of your service and products, so you don't have to sell them anything, you merely have to make contact.
The first step is to look at your customer list from the previous year.
Pick up the telephone and start making calls to each of the customers that you haven't done business with for, say six months.
Pick the time that is longer than the normal interval of their buying cycle.
Visits to these people are even more effective but remember to take their previous buying information with you.
It's important that you update your information when you visit these past customers.
It could be that they have expanded or contracted the business which may give you opportunity to present alternative products or services.
For these visits it is useful to take some thing of value with you.
It may be a report, a White Paper, an article that is relevant, a business to business communication, a special offer, information about a new product that you propose to add and so on.
The objective is to give your past customer a reason to remember your brand, your service and ultimately yourself.
Remember, the more information you can glean from this past customer, the better able you are to meet their current needs.
The second step is to record the mailing addresses for each of these former customers and send them something they will find beneficial.
Do this on a regular basis, say, every 10 days.
One of the best ways of maintaining the name of your business in front of your potential customers is to give them something of value each week.
It may be marketing ideas, cost-cutting ideas, ways to reduce waste, tips to improve personal and labour productivity, things which are perceived as valuable by your customer.
You may want to include details of new products or services or any other changes that you have installed so that your business is more customer friendly.
Remember that one of the laws of managing a small business is, "Be on the customer's mind when a customer is ready to buy.
" This approach will put you in a positive light as soon as these former customers are being neglected by their current supplier.
Who do you think they will think of first?
For one reason or another these people no longer purchase your goods or services.
But on the plus side they already know you.
It is considerably easier to sell to a past customer than it is to sell to a new customer.
It is also much more cost-effective.
There are two highly effective action steps that will help you to reactivate old customers.
Old customers can be a goldmine because they already know the quality of your service and products, so you don't have to sell them anything, you merely have to make contact.
The first step is to look at your customer list from the previous year.
Pick up the telephone and start making calls to each of the customers that you haven't done business with for, say six months.
Pick the time that is longer than the normal interval of their buying cycle.
Visits to these people are even more effective but remember to take their previous buying information with you.
It's important that you update your information when you visit these past customers.
It could be that they have expanded or contracted the business which may give you opportunity to present alternative products or services.
For these visits it is useful to take some thing of value with you.
It may be a report, a White Paper, an article that is relevant, a business to business communication, a special offer, information about a new product that you propose to add and so on.
The objective is to give your past customer a reason to remember your brand, your service and ultimately yourself.
Remember, the more information you can glean from this past customer, the better able you are to meet their current needs.
The second step is to record the mailing addresses for each of these former customers and send them something they will find beneficial.
Do this on a regular basis, say, every 10 days.
One of the best ways of maintaining the name of your business in front of your potential customers is to give them something of value each week.
It may be marketing ideas, cost-cutting ideas, ways to reduce waste, tips to improve personal and labour productivity, things which are perceived as valuable by your customer.
You may want to include details of new products or services or any other changes that you have installed so that your business is more customer friendly.
Remember that one of the laws of managing a small business is, "Be on the customer's mind when a customer is ready to buy.
" This approach will put you in a positive light as soon as these former customers are being neglected by their current supplier.
Who do you think they will think of first?
