Attract New Customers …Old Customers…Both?
The next step in our Marketing Basics series of articles is to;
Decide Whether You Want To Attract New Customers, Sell More To Your Existing Customers… Or Both.
First, let’s look at going back to your existing customers or people who have done business with you in the past…
You understand the lifetime value of your customers. You understand that it is easier to sell to someone you’ve already done business with than it is to attract a new customer.
Now, answer these questions:
- How many existing customers do you have on your database, or in your files, that you can contact by telephone, fax, or mail? It doesn’t matter if you consider these people to be “lapsed” customers… that they mightn’t have bought anything from you for six months or more. However, so long as they’re still on your files (so long as you haven’t purged them), then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go ahead and “mine” this seam of gold in your business.
- How long has it been, if ever, since you contacted them and made them an offer to buy something from you?
- What product or service can you offer these people?
- Define the product or service you’re going to offer them.
- Frame your offer around your USP and the customer’s question to you: “What’s in it for me.”
- Work out the best way to make your offer – by telephone, by fax, by a direct mail piece, by e-mail.
- Make a special offer to people who have done business with you before, along the lines:
“Dear (name here, not just “Dear Customer”…) As you are a valued customer of ours, we would like to make you a very special offer on our new widget, which we have discounted in price by 25% as a token of our appreciation of your patronage…. ”
In other words, make them feel valued and special… and mean it, because they are!
If you’re going to attract new customers…
- Target your marketing as much as possible. Don’t use the scatter-gun approach.
- Frame your offer around your USP and the customer’s question to you: “What’s in it for me.”
- Work out the best way to make your offer – by telephone, by fax, by a direct mail piece, by e-mail, by advertising (which mediums?), by a combination.
- Make a very special offer to people who will do business with you for the first time, along the lines of:
“As a very special inducement to you to try our product/service, we are offering our widgets at a 15% discount if you come in/call/send back the order form within the next seven days… ”
In other words, make them feel that you are going out of your way to attract them…. and do just that. Once you have them as a customer, you’ll then be able to take advantage of their lifetime value to you.
THE NEXT THING YOU MUST DO IS:
Ensure that every bit of marketing you do – advertising, direct mail, telemarketing … whatever – is “keyed” (in other words, recorded) so that you know what worked and what didn’t.
NOW, THE FINAL THING YOU MUST DO IS:
Write It All Down.
Now you have a profile of your customers – the who, what, where, when, how, and why – of your business.
Write it down. Circulate it among your staff so they know with whom they’re dealing, which will make it easier for everyone to spot potential new customers and to focus on the sort of service your profiled customers might best appreciate.
Now you know the lifetime value of your customers.
Write it down. Circulate it among your staff. Let them appreciate how valuable each customer is and the importance of treating each and every customer like a king or queen so that you can realise this lifetime value.
Now you know your USP.
Write it down. Have it printed on your business cards, letterheads, advertising and marketing material. Give a copy to all your staff members. Frame it and hang it up in your reception area.
Now you have a plan for marketing to existing customers and/or prospective customers.
Write it down. You’ve chosen the most appropriate media. You’ve tagged all your advertising so that you can tell where your sales are coming from. If you have it all written down, you can chart the progress of your offer, you can test the effectiveness of the different media you’ve chosen, and you can calculate the correct cost-per-sale.
Write out your marketing plan for the period in question and circulate it among your staff so that everyone knows what’s going on, and what’s expected of them. (Do they know the offer you’ve made and how you expect them to react to people who walk in/phone in/fax in/ write in?)
Good Luck!
If you do decide to follow through with these tips let us know how you go, we’d love to have your feedback!
