When business is going well and customers return time after time to buy from you, its easy to lose focus on some of the things you used to do when building up your initial book of business. Before you had clients, you likely had to do things to let prospects know that you existed and were available to help them with whatever it is your business does. If you are a dry cleaner, florist, or technology provider there is a need to stay top of mind for your clients because you can be sure that someone else who doesn’t have them as a client is reaching out to them. If you have the type of business where customers come to you, you may notice after years of buying from you they simply disappear and never come back. It is more likely that someone wooed them away than they simply stopped needing your product or service.
You need to let your existing clients know how you will continue to provide value to them. Let them know what has changed about your business, or what continues to be great that they have always enjoyed. Remind them of your differentiators which caused them to start buying from you in the first place or new differentiators you have developed. Even if nothing has changed in your business find reasons to reach out to them to say thank you or provide them information that might be interesting to them that relates to your industry. It is key that every time you reach out to them, its not simply to try to sell them something. Its fine to send a special offer or coupon as people appreciate saving money, but some advice, information they didn’t have, or simply a “thank you for your business” can go a long way. Whatever it is you do, make sure that if your competition is reaching into your customer’s mind, that you are right there next to them.
Michael Giuffrida from Southington CT has been operating businesses since 1997. He is an experienced entrepreneur in business management, profitable growth, business valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and information technology managed services.
Staying in front of customers and prospects is paramount to build a book of business. We do a lot of drip marketing to companies we work with, whether it’s a monthly newsletter or update on topics important to business owners. Anything we can do to have them keep us “top of mind” is crucial to keeping the pipeline full.
Great advice. As you said, it’s always important to remind your customers that you are there and (more importantly) that they need you.