Don't Overlook The Easy Sales
Copyright 2003 Bob
Leduc
Are you so busy chasing down new customers that you completely
overlooked these two prime sources for easy sales?
Source 1: Existing Customers
Here are two ways you can use your relationship with existing customers
to generate additional business.
1. Offer Them Related Products or Services
Your existing customers already know you and trust you. It's easier
and cheaper to get more business from them than to get any business from
new prospects.
Find or create additional products and services you can offer to
existing customers. Your new products and services should be closely
related to those your customers originally bought from you.
For example, I recently spoke with a network marketer selling
nutritional products. She also works with a health club that pays her a
commission for each new member she signs up. She told me that over one
third of her income is generated by offering the related product to her
customers.
2. Ask Them to Help You Find New Customers
Do you have a system to get referrals from satisfied customers? If
not, you are losing a lot of profitable sales you could easily get.
One way to get referrals is with a brief Customer Survey. Send it by
postal mail, email, fax or post it on a web page. The one I use asks only
3 questions:
- What did you like best about our product (or service)?
- What can we do to improve the value of our product (or service) for
you?
- Who do you know trying to solve (state the problem you solved for
your customer)? ...or: Who do you know that wants to (state the benefit
provided by your product or service)?
The first two questions focus attention on the benefits you provide.
Your customer is more likely to volunteer referrals when they're thinking
about the value of those benefits.
You also gain something else with the first two questions. The first
question often generates a response you can use as a testimonial (with
your customer's permission). The second question may provide an early
warning of a problem you need to solve ...or alert you to an opportunity
you can exploit.
Source 2: Previous Non-Buyers
Most prospects will not buy from you the first time they hear about
your product or service ...or the first time they visit your web site. You
can recover many of these lost sales with a follow up system.
Your follow up system can be as simple as contacting previous prospects
occasionally with a new offer. Or it can be more complex such as
distributing a weekly newsletter with topics related to your product or
service.
Problem For Internet Marketers: Many visitors to your web site
want what you offer - but they are not ready to buy right now. You cannot
follow up with them if they click away from your site before you find out
who they are and how to contact them.
The Solution: Post a complimentary offer on your site for
something valuable to prospects in your targeted market. Deliver it only
by email so you can capture the email address of each visitor who requests
it.
For example, offer a complimentary subscription to your email
newsletter if you publish one. Otherwise, offer a special report, a source
list or other valuable information they cannot get anywhere else.
Tip: Try to get each prospect's first name too. Use it to
personalize your follow up messages. People cannot resist reading
something when it is personally addressed to them.
Include existing customers and previous non-buyers in your marketing
efforts. Both are a prime source for easy sales. And you don't have to
spend money on advertising to get them.
Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses just like yours
find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his
manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards and several
other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more
information: Email: BobLeduc@aol.com
Subject: "Postcards" Phone: 702-658-1707 after 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV
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