*Dan Kennedy, probably the most highly recognized marketing expert in the world, teaches that marketing is the cornerstone of any successful business, and he’s right. Let’s face it, it really doesn’t matter what product or service you are selling unless you have a buyer.
If your mindset doesn’t embrace that fact, you will probably spend a whole lot of time doing things that really don’t matter. Marketing is about communicating with and educating your customers, prospects, and referral sources about why it’s in their best interest to do business with you. It is about educating the right target audience on the advantages, benefits, value, and results you can provide.
To drive home a point, one of the first questions I ask a new client is, “What business are you in?” The usual answer I receive is something like, “I’m in the printing business,” or “I’m in the lending business,” or “I’m in the retail business.”
BIG MISTAKE! The funny thing is that no matter what answer I get, I say to this prospective new client, “You’re wrong.” There’s really only one right answer to what business you are in, and that answer is….“I’m in the marketing business.”
If you personally don’t have a formal marketing “process”, your goal should be to develop one, right away.
You see, there are basically only five ways to grow your business:
- Keep the customers you have.
- Bring in more customers.
- Increase the average transaction size (unit sale).
- Increase the frequency of purchases.
- Say “no” to bad customers/prospects.
To sum it up, you want to keep the customers you have while bringing in more, and sell larger amounts more often. Do one of these and your business grows; do two or more of these well and your business will grow exponentially.
Keep and Grow What You Already Have
Don’t underestimate the need to satisfy and retain existing customers. Most businesses put too much money, time, and effort into chasing new customers/prospects and far too few resources trying to keep their current ones. Real profits and stable revenue streams come from long-term relationships and repeat business with your current, loyal, profitable customers. Some experts believe that up to 80 percent of a company’s future growth can come from existing clients. Customer satisfaction and retention should be a major marketing priority. If all of this resonates with you, do something about it starting tomorrow.
As always, have a great week!
Henry
*An excerpt from my Amazon #1 Best Selling Book, UnSTUCK for GOOD!