Your best source of new business is old business

Stay in touch with your current and not-so-current customers. They already know you and your products and services. And, if given enough attention, they’re likely to remain loyal.

Write thank-you notes expressing your appreciation after each sale. Call your clients to ask whether everything met their expectations. Tell them about your company’s newest offerings and the benefits they provide to businesses like theirs. Mail them a quarterly “update” newsletter. Remember their birthdays and anniversaries with a card. Take them out for breakfast.

The extra effort will pay off handsomely.

Focus on the benefits

Potential customers want to hear all about your product or service: How does it look? How does it work? Where is it sold? What does it cost?

But that’s not enough.

To turn them from potential customers to paying customers, you have to tell them up front what it will do for them. Can buying what your company sells make them look better? Feel better? Work more efficiently?

Be sure to stress benefits in all your literature, ads, and press releases. And don’t forget your web site. It’s often the first place people meet you.