It costs a lot of money to get a customer to buy from you for the first time. Do you make money on that first transaction?
Many businesses don’t. They need to get the customer to come back again.
So it’s a mistake to focus all your energy and resources on new customers.
Sure, it’s more exciting. Yes, it’s sexier. However, your existing customers may feel taken for granted. It seems to them that you’re just assuming they’ll keep coming back.
If you’re like most businesses, you have a group of very loyal customers. The rest can be lured away.
So it pays to focus a good deal of your marketing efforts and attention on your current customers. You’ve already made the investment to get them to buy from you. Now it’s up to you to get them back again.
The good news is that it can be done with little to no additional investment. Sometimes it can be as simple as what you say.
Why don’t all businesses do this?
Sometimes what you don’t say gives them a reason to not come back. For example, think of all the places you go these days where they never say “Thank you.”
Are you letting your customers know how much you appreciate their business? We’ve known business owners who go so far as to include a line on paychecks that says something like “Thanks to our customers.”
Employees often think more about the person who signs the checks, instead of the people who make the checks possible. But you aren’t a fountain of money. It pays to remind them where the money really comes from.
A short sentence that led to more business
We have a donut shop in our area. The owners are a young couple. They own a number of donut shops.
We would stop by occasionally on our way to the office. When the store was new, the wife was almost always there. She’s very personable so we got to know each other pretty well in the first couple of weeks.
Then one day she started saying something that changed our buying behavior. As we were walking toward the door she said: “See you tomorrow!”
We have to tell you that we really liked her. And she did a great job with the shop’s customers. We really wanted to support their business. The pressure was on!
So guess what we did when tomorrow came? Yep, we went back.
Even though we normally only went once or twice a week, we went in the next day. And guess what she said on our way out the door?
You got it. She said: “See you tomorrow!”
It worked again and again.
Just one short sentence led to more sales for their business. There’s power in suggestion. It will help you make more money, more dependably!
What’s the last thing you say to your customers?
