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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:
1. What did you like best about our product (or service)?
2. What can we do to improve the value of our product (or service)
for you?
3. 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.
About the Author
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 visit
http://bobleduc.com/
Phone: 702-658-1707 after 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV
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