Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category

This is part of a series of posts on what you can do to be more successful in your business this year. To get a free report full of success tips for your business, click here.

Let’s talk about repeat customers. These are the backbone for many businesses. The more repeat customers you have, the less you have to worry about getting new customers. Yet, many businesses put most of their efforts on gaining new customers, and not enough on keeping repeat customers. With repeat sales, you may be grateful for them, but what do you do to ensure that they happen? What procedures do you have in place to not only get repeat customers, but to service them continually and to tap into them as a resource for new business?

Gerry Linda, of Gerald Linda & Associates, provided this piece of advice on repeat customers:

The best advice I can give is to stay close to your current customers. This is formally called retention marketing and it is often overlooked in favor of the pursuit of new customers. However, current customers pay all the bills. This is akin to dancing with the girl who invited you to the party. So keeping current customers is Job #1; Job #2 is up-selling and cross-selling them and Job #3 is obtaining referrals from them. By the way, as part of this process, it is essential to formally measure customer satisfaction. Repeat sales is not the same as satisfaction. Customers may be deeply unhappy and actively seeking alternatives. The only way to determine satisfaction is to assess it directly via research.

Gerry offers a lot of great advice here. I thought I would break it down piece by piece and add in my own advice to really help you get a handle on getting and keeping repeat customers.

Lost in Pursuit

It is true that in sales there is a tendency to focus on new customers more than old ones. Sometimes this is built right into the system, with reps getting a greater commission on new sales. Even without that trigger, sales reps may not think they are growing if they aren’t constantly going after new customers. And since new customers take more time and effort, going after repeat sales often gets shortchanged.

Part of the problem is that a large number of repeat sales happen anyway, without an active pursuit. If you do a good business, your repeat numbers are probably pretty high. However, they could be higher. And, as we will see, its not just the repeat sale that matters. Repeat customers can add more than their return business. Start thinking referrals, testimonials, and up-sells.

Keeping Current Customers

The fact is, you should have a plan for keeping current customers. There should be sales and marketing devoted just to them. For instance, if you have a small company with two sales people, you might consider devoting one to new sales, and one to repeat sales. This is two different personality types, by the way, so it may come down to hiring the right people. In the sales world they are called the hunter and the farmer.

A lot of salespeople are hunters. This is why they naturally pursue the new sale and sometimes neglect the repeat sale. Your business may already have farmers, but maybe they are in customer service, or some other part of your business. Tasking the right people to take care of repeat customers is important.

As part of your plan, you should have ongoing communication with your current customers. Send out weekly emails, write a blog, do monthly webinars. It may be a good idea to write out a marketing plan just for repeat sales. One nice thing is that you don’t have to worry about the prospecting, which is often the most expensive and time-consuming part of getting a sale. Spend energy on keeping current customers, and your repeat ratio will rise, and with it your bottom line.

Up-Selling and Cross-Selling

While keeping current customers helps keep the blood flowing in your business, you still need to grow. So you have to go out and get new customers, right? Well, yes, but not so fast. Gerry talks about up-selling in his piece of advice, and he makes a great point. Often, you can actually increase your profit with your current customers.

Up-selling is when you sell a current customer on something more expensive. Its not more expensive just for the sake of it. Maybe they started with your basic package, but they are ready to upgrade.

Cross-Selling is when you sell your customer something else, besides what you have already sold them.

If you have a decent customer base, you can make a lot of money with these methods. Good money, too. Often, you are looking at a better profit when you up-sell and cross-sell. For one thing, it is not as expensive to get the sale. Secondly, you can put a larger markup on some of these products.

Think about your business. Do you have any kind of upgrade available. If not, maybe its time to put one in place. Maybe you need to add a few extra services and sell a higher-priced package. Maybe its a new complimentary product. There are tons of ways you can offer an upgrade.

A cross-sell can be very easy, but it can also get you in trouble. If you try to add on new services or products to your business, you may get distracted from your core. You know best what you can handle and what you can’t. You are ready to add a separate line if you are organized and profitable with what you currently offer. If its still a daily struggle, do yourself a favor and don’t add anything extra.

You can cross-sell without adding services or products yourself. You do this by affiliating your business with other businesses who sell to the same customer. So, if you sell windows but not doors, you can partner up with a company that does doors but not windows. All you do is sell your customer on this other business and collect a fee. Pretty easy way to make some extra money.

Referrals: The Oil Well Waiting to Be Tapped

There is another way to make money from your repeat customers. They can provide you with referrals.

You can go about referrals two ways: willy-nilly or purposeful. Willy-nilly takes referrals when they come. Purposeful puts in place a good system for asking for and getting referrals.

Tapping into current customers for referrals in a purposeful manner can fill up your prospect list. Suddenly, without focusing on new sales, you have a bunch of leads for just that, new sales. Done right, you will have to do a lot less cold prospecting.

Referrals are often not tapped to their fullest potential. This is an oil well of new business that you don’t want to ignore.

Satisfaction

In the end, your success with repeat customers all comes down to whether you do a good job satisfying your customers. If you have high customer satisfaction, repeat sales will come easier, as will up-sells and referrals.

Gerry Linda suggests doing regular customer satisfaction surveys. You need to keep your finger on the pulse of current customers. Part of having a high satisfaction rate is being willing and able to adapt your business to customer needs and desires.

I would suggest one other measure of customer satisfaction. This will help in getting new sales, as well. Have a strong plan for getting testimonials. Go out of your way to get customer testimonials. Collect them directly and also ask customers to fill in reviews online, at third-party sites like Yelp, Google, and Facebook.

If this is easy, and you get a lot of great testimonials, then your customer satisfaction is likely pretty high. If this is a struggle, and you aren’t getting good testimonials, you need to take action to improve satisfaction.

Repeat customers are the source of life for your business, perhaps even more than you realize. Value them. Put your plans in place to keep more customers and to get more out of each customer. In time, you will see focusing on customers creates an engine of growth within your business, one that can be more easily sustained then the constant turnover of digging up new customers from scratch.

photo credit: alancleaver_2000

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Bradford Shimp helps small businesses build a great web presence. Start with a web site, and go from there. BroadRiverCreative.com.

How many businesses do you hear from after you make a purchase? All to few, I would bet. And the ones you do hear from are usually larger businesses and all you get from them after a sale are catalogs and advertisements.

The moments during and after a sale are when you are closest to your customer. He or she has decided to trust you enough to buy from you. You are having a meaningful interaction, one that could and should lead to a growing relationship. And then you never call until you want another sale? How rude is that?

Keep the Conversation Going

You did a lot of work to get your customer to the point of making a purchase. It took a building of trust, among other things. So why would you want to waste all of that effort by ignoring the customer after the sale?

This is the best time to start a deeper relationship with the customer. By this I mean that you can become a more important part of your customer’s life, not just a company that he or she bought something from once. This all starts right around the time that you make that sale.

You should have some kind of plan for staying in contact with your customers on a regular basis. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to do this is with an email newsletter. Invite each customer to subscribe to the newsletter at the point of sale. That way, you have an outlet to keep in touch with them regularly.

Remember to Be Personal

While email newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with a large audience, don’t ever forget that the decision of a customer to purchase from you is a personal one. Keep that connection alive. Plan on several personal connections throughout the year. This could be anything from hand-written birthday cards, to phone calls just to say hi, to regular face to face meetings (perhaps at a nearby restaurant).

By being personal, you are showing the customer that you remember them and are grateful for their business. Don’t be pushy on getting new sales on these contacts. Just be friendly. Throughout the conversations you have, you will learn the customers needs and can lead them gently to new sales.

Reap the Rewards

No customer is a one time customer. Whether or not they ever buy from you again, each customer is an extremely valuable resource for your business. There are three things that I talk about your being able to tap past customers for. They are repeat sales, testimonials, and referrals. But there is also a fourth thing that shouldn’t be ignored. That is, feedback. Each customer can help you get a better picture on how you are doing and how well you are meeting customer needs.

By staying in contact after the sale, you are giving yourself a much better shot at bringing in new business as a result of a customer.

Provide good information, consistently, and the customer will be more likely to remember to refer you to the a friend. By the way, that referral is most likely to happen when that friend is in need, which is exactly what you want. If you just ask for out of the blue referrals at sale closing, all you will get are cold leads. Stay in contact, and you are bound to get some very hot leads via referral.

Staying in contact also helps to keep your business in front of the customer, so if they are going to buy again, they are much more likely to buy from you. You already have the trust factor since you closed one sale. Now, you just need to maintain awareness. But please note, just sending postcards doesn’t cut it anymore. Provide your customers with valuable information on a regular basis.

Having the relationship also makes it possible to get honest answers from customers regarding your business. It makes asking for things like video testimonials easier, as well.

There are great depths to plumb with any old customer, and you are letting a lot of potential go to waste if you just disappear after a sale (only to reappear when you want another sale). Find ways to stay in contact. You can provide great value to your past customers. At the same time, you can gain great value from them.

photo credit: Lucy Boynton

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The All Biz Answers Insider Newsletter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

One way to keep communication healthy between your business and your customer base is to tell interesting stories. You do not have to become Stephen King or Dan Brown, but you should learn how to hold the interest of the audience.

Here’s a look at how becoming good at stories can change how you communicate.

Hey, Look at Us! Aren’t We Great?

A lot of marketing and sales focuses on the business, not on the customer. I don’t think this means that there is an undue amount of hubris among businesses. It simply means that most businesses do not know enough about their customers to tell interesting stories from their point of view.

All of your marketing and sales should focus on the customer more than on your business. Customers are interested in stories that they can relate to. So, instead of telling customers why you are the best, you need to find out customer needs and show them how your business meets those needs.

This means dropping the lists of features and all of the extra services in favor of a more personalized approach. People don’t care about your lists. They care about their own pressing needs.

Here’s a hint. Talk to some of your best customers. Interview them about why they bought from you, how you helped them solve their needs, and what their experience with you was like. Turn these interviews into case studies, blog posts, videos, and any number of marketing pieces. One story about a specific customer solving their specific need will go a lot farther than your business-focused sales pitch that lists all of your products and services.

Buy This Now

Another favorite technique of many small businesses is to do all of their marketing through specials, discounts, and buy this now advertising. Now, there is nothing wrong with this as one tool in the toolbox. But, if the only time you are getting the sale is when you offer a discount, maybe your price is just too high in the first place.

That aside, there just isn’t much to engage the customer in a buy this now approach. Either they are ready to buy now, or they aren’t.

Consider adding some story to this approach. You can talk about how buying your product will improve your customer’s life, for instance. I am a big fan of educating the customer. Spend time showing them why your product or service is essential to them. Get good at this, and you won’t have to offer that many discounts.

Here’s a hint. Instead of buying advertising to push a product, why not tell the story of that product on your blog. This could go on for several posts. Talk about where it comes from, what it does for customers, and what problems it solves. Highlight stories of actual customers using it. Also, offer free training on how to use it better.

Do You Mind If Sit Here?

Any marketer will tell you, half the battle is just keeping your message in front of the customer. There are two ways to do this. The traditional approach is with interruption marketing. This encompasses things like cold calls, direct mail, advertising, and spam.

The newer approach is to use permission based marketing. In other words, generate leads through word of mouth, search traffic, referrals, etc. and get them to sign up to receive an email newsletter from you. Or get them to regularly visit your blog, or to attend your event.

The nice thing about permission based marketing is that once you get permission, you can take your time to tell interesting stories. You can fill people in on the back story of your company, share customer success stories, tell them about how a certain product is going to make their life better, all on a regular basis. In other words, not only will you be able to keep your message in front of the customer, you can build a connection and build trust while you do it.

Here is another benefit of permission based marketing. It is much cheaper than traditional interruption based marketing.

If you think about your sales message in the context of sitting down next to a stranger and striking up a conversation, maybe it will all make sense to you. Only an absolute bore would start of a conversation with a stranger using a sales pitch. Most of us would get to know the stranger first. If the stranger mentioned some need that we were capable of helping with, then we would tell them about our solution.

Apply the basic etiquette of conversation and relationships to your sales and marketing and you won’t steer wrong.

Here’s a hint. Create a lot of helpful content. Package it it many ways, including blog posts, ebooks, speaking engagements, and videos. Give it away for free in return for permission to keep the conversation going. The more great content you provide, the more customers you will attract to hear your story.

photo credit: Torley

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The All Biz Answers Insider Newsletter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

There is a lot of talk about listening these days. Listening is one of the most important skills that you can learn. If you can truly stop and listen to your customers, you can pave the path to ongoing business success.

What Does It Mean to Listen?

Listening involves paying attention and responding to the needs and desires of customers. Listening is when Facebook pulled Beacon, because of public outcry over privacy rights. Better listening would have been if they never introduced it, because they knew the response would be negative.

As a business, you need to practice the art of active listening. It is not good enough to react to customers. You need to be able to anticipate their needs. Listening to customers is about positioning your company to be the answer to customer needs, ideally before they even ask.

Listening is also about getting involved with your customers. This includes actually spending time with them, researching things that are important to them, reading magazines and books that are written for them, and becoming an expert in the things that matter to them.

Who Should You Be Listening To?

You’re business should have an ideal customer. This is the prototype of the perfect customer for you. You want to attract this type of customer, and the more of your customers that fit the ideal, the better. So, it makes sense that this is the kind of customer you should be paying attention to.

A customer is someone who has purchased from you, but it is also someone who might purchase from you. You should treat customers, prospects, and general public with equal respect. However, you should spend your time listening to the people who you most want as customers.

Where Can You Listen?

Listening can (and should) happen everywhere. That being said, you can hone your listening by using certain tools and techniques.

Offline, you should be conducting customer surveys and just be getting out and talking to customers and prospects. Attend trade shows and conferences that are also attended by your ideal customers. If there are none in your area, start one. As your expertise grows, you may want to consider doing some speaking engagements. This is a great way to meet prospects and to get people to tell you about the issues that they face.

Online, the possibilities are endless. You can listen on Twitter with the help of Twitter Search. You can track key words and phrases across the web using Google Alerts. Forums are an outstanding place to listen. You can also create your own listening posts with a blog or podcast. Sure, this is about you talking, but it will also force you to research and learn about your customers. And you can encourage dialog and reader comments.

Be sure to listen where customers are talking. If you can find out where ideal customers congregate, online and offline, then you need to be there too.

Active listening will help you to better understand and connect with your customers. It will make sales and marketing easier, because you will be able to position yourself right between the customer and the need. Being a good listener will also endear you to the people you want to reach. Everyone loves being listened to. So close that yapper, put aside that profit and loss sheet for a moment, and start exploring the world of your customers.

photo credit: Travis Isaacs

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The All Biz Answers Insider Newsletter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

Having an email newsletter is a very good idea. It is a way to stay in conversation with customers and prospects very inexpensively. You can use it to build trust over time, educate and inform, and turn leads into customers. That being said, there are a few rules you need to follow.

Keep Selling to a Minimum

If you have a goal to connect with customers and prospects and to build trust through conversation, you need to keep your sales pitches to a minimum in your newsletter. There are exceptions to this. You could offer a newsletter that was all discounts and special offers, all the time. If people like your product, they will like that.

For the most part though, if you have a traditional small business, you only have a few things to sell and/or are not discounting constantly. What you need to focus on with your newsletter is your knowledge and expertise. If your customers buy web site design from you, you should seek to educate them in that arena. For instance, you might include an article about how they can get listed on Google Local for free.

The goal is to provide a newsletter that your ideal customer base will want to read, on a regular basis. You may not be able to write one that every single customer will look forward to, but you can do one that your most active and loyal customers will appreciate.

Stay Regular

For a newsletter to work, it has to be sent out on a regular basis. Just like with marketing in general, you need to stay in front of your prospects. The best scenario is to send a newsletter out once a week.

You can come up with enough interesting content to do a weekly newsletter. You just need to commit to it. Also, your customers will not be annoyed with a weekly newsletter, as long as you are providing good content.

If you are communicating on a regular basis via your newsletter, you are building a real relationship with your prospects. People who read your newsletter will be informed, be insiders, and will help spread the word and be more inclined to buy when you need them to.

If you just send a newsletter irregularly, with a press release or special offer, people will not be in the habit of reading it or trusting it. It will largely be a waste of time.

Always Get Permission and Maintain Trust

If you want your newsletter to be successful, you absolutely must make it permission based. Sure, it is fine to email your customer base from time to time without getting permission. But that is really no different than sending postcards. With a newsletter, you want people to buy in to the concept of it.

Send out regular invitations to join the newsletter to your customer base, but don’t just start sending them the newsletter until they sign up for it. There are lots of reasons for this. You don’t want to be seen as a spammer, for one. But also, you really want to qualify your readership. Those that take the time to sign up for the newsletter are far likelier to read it and to engage in a deeper conversation with your company.

Once you get permission, you need to maintain the trust. Never sell your newsletter list. Its okay to make offers from other companies, ie. affiliates, but only if you know and trust the product. Trust is the key to doing business. The newsletter is a goldmine for creating and building trust, because it allows you to stay in regular conversation with your prospects and customers. So honor that trust. Give value, and don’t be selfish with your newsletter.

If you follow these three rules, you will be on your way to developing a great newsletter. Now, you just need to work on creating the right content.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com