Most surveys show the average business loses about 19% of its client base each year. In fact, the authors of, “Customer Winback: How To Recapture Lost Customers - and Keep Them Loyal” estimates the average at 20 to 40% per year.

This means that if you have 500 customers and lose 19% or 95 customers you must get 95 new customers each year just to stay even.

Research shows it costs six times more to get a prospect to buy from you than it does to keep an existing customer, and it’s 16 times easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one.

So why would you spend any marketing dollars on new prospects before doing everything you can to get more business from your existing and past clients? Let me repeat that, “Why would you spend any marketing dollars on new prospects before doing everything you can to get more business from your existing and past clients?”

The truth is that the real money to be made by most businesses is from additional sales of products and services to their existing customers and those they refer. Getting repeat and referral business is something most small business owners are not proficient in.

If you want your business to be successful, you need to have a compelling reason, “Why should your customers and prospects do business with you, rather than your competition”? You need to become someone they will gladly and often refer new customer prospects to!

The one strategy that can do more for building your business than just about anything else you can do and the most overlooked marketing tool by almost every business is “Follow Up”!

You need to immediately put in place a strategy and an effective system to follow up with:

- Existing Customers
- Past Customers
- Potential Customers or Prospects

Since it costs six times more to get a new customer to buy from you, it just makes sense to spend much of your time, effort and money on strengthening your relationships with your existing customers and turning them into referral machines for you.

In developing a follow up system for your customers and prospects, you need to determine:

- The number of times you want to contact them and over what period of time

- The frequency of contact. For example, every two month plus on their birthday

- The method of contact. Will you send a greeting card, post card or letter? Research has shown that a greeting card will get opened 12 times more often that other types of mail.

- Determine the purpose of the contact. Will you be thanking them for buying from you, making them a special offer or asking for a referral?

A study done by the Association of sales Executives revealed that 81% of all sales happen on or after the fifth contact. If you’re only doing one or two follow up’s, imagine all the business you are losing. Not following up with your customers and prospects is like filling up your bathtub without first putting the stopper in the drain!

Here’s an example of an eight contact follow up system you could put in place in your business, modify it to meet your business needs:

1. When they buy from you - send a “Thank You” card
2. January - send a “New Years” card
3. March - send an Item-of-Value or Special Offer letter
4. May - send a “Referral Request” card
5. July - send a “Fourth of July” card
6. September - send an Item-of-Value or Special Offer letter
7. November - send a “Referral Request” card
8. Birthday - send a “Birthday” card

According to the Guinness book of World Records the Greatest Salesman of all time was Joe Girard. During his fifteen year selling career, he sold 13,001 cars … an amazing feat. What was his secret? Greeting Cards! Every month, every person who had ever bought a car from him got a greeting card. It didn’t matter if it was Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, or the person’s birthday … Joe was a greeting card sending machine!

With today’s technology it’s not necessary to spend your time doing it manually like Joe and his assistants did! On the Internet there are online card sending services where you can send “REAL” physical full color glossy greeting cards, mailed with a real stamp, from your computer. The one I use has a ton of features, like being able to set up automatic mailing campaigns. And, it’s very inexpensive at $1.37 a greeting card, which includes postage.

According to the National Association of Realtors, 70% of homebuyers said they would use their real estate agent again. However, only 11% reported buying through the real estate agent they had used before. Why? Because clients haven’t heard from them and they assumed the agent didn’t want to do business with them.

Whatever your product or service, don’t let that happen to you!

Commit to putting in place a system to insure continual automatic follow up to your customers and prospects. Your business depends on it!

Joel Weiner is a Referral Marketing expert. He helps small businesses and professionals generate more sales through referrals. More information can be found at his website: http://www.Best2U.com

Your small business needs an identity that your customers can easily repeat to other people interested in your services. This is your Brand Banner and it is one of the most powerful weapons in your marketing arsenal. After you’ve uncovered the who of your brand, the next step is determining where your Brand Banner is planted relative to the competition. Only then can you really bring in your People and Package resources to effectively market your Brand to prospects, and reinforce your brand position to your customers and your employees.

If you don’t know where your brand is positioned in relation to your competitors, then no matter how well-written and executed your marketing and promotion plans are they are apt to steer you and your time and your money and your labor in the wrong direction.

If that’s the case, at least your competitors will be happy.

Often, marketers talk about how to “position” their product or service as if they are mind-controllers who actually determine where inside her brain a prospective customer will shelve the company’s brand. But this is one magic trick not easily pulled off; and there’s a vital point to remember for the small business owner.

Let’s imagine our marketing efforts are analogous to a person on a lake in a boat. Our brand is our boat. If we had a motorboat and were out on that lake, then we could just point our boat toward a point on shore of our choosing, thrust the throttles full ahead and–because we are under our own power–we’d head exactly in that direction.

But unfortunately we marketers don’t have a motorboat. We’re crewing a sailboat. Our small company’s brand is powered by the winds of people perception. One obvious wind is the picture of our brand held by the decision-maker(s) who have the power to actually buy our product. But often overlooked by companies, large and small, are the gusts provided by our referral sources; both customers and employees. A successful marketer must learn to tack with different winds in order to arrive at her destination–the safe shore of a sale.

Ever see a big company waste millions of dollars on advertising, trying to shove their position into a customer’s mind? Think of all the money the dot-coms spent a few years ago, trying to do just that. Well-paid executives with millions of dollars in ad budget mistakenly thought they were driving motorboats. Most sunk, because they didn’t learn that you can’t just buy your way into a person’s mind.

Of course both your People and your Package components will need to be brought into play to support your Brand’s position, but first it is absolutely critical to understand where that position is. The good news is that most of your competitors probably don’t know where their brand is in relation to you and their other competitors.

The bad news is that this state won’t last. An existing competitor will become a smarter marketer, or a new player with a deep knowledge of their brand’s place will enter the arena. Either way, it’s pressing for you to understand where your small company’s brand is at, now.

© 2006 Marketing Hawks

• This is an extremely important point and that is–every adult has adapted a style of communicating with people.

• That is some people are very dominant-some are very laid back, etc.

• I’m sure some of you have thought, “How can the telephone solicitors do their job or bill collectors for that matter–I could never deal with people that way.

• That is what I’m getting at-whatever your style is and if you’re a successful salesperson then people must like the way you are—Don’t try to change it—that is not to say you can’t learn to work smarter, harder or improve, but basically stay with who you are. It’s the only way you’ll be really happy.

• The other side of the coin is that say you are low Key-some people will take that as being weak and try to run over you–you don’t need to let that happen.

• If you’ve established in the first few minutes of meeting with them that you really know your stuff (product knowledge) then that should be enough.

• Please realize and this was hard for me that there are people you simply won’t be able to deal with. Let it go and don’t worry about it—try to refer them to another person whose personality fits theirs better.

• Very importantly, this doesn’t mean that whatever our style is we can’t improve on it.

• That is not what I mean by style, I mean don’t try to change your basic personality.

• If you are not a successful salesperson then it can be put down to work habits, not enough product knowledge, not enough energy level, but those are different matters.

• I’m assuming you are a good salesman, have good work habits and energy level. We are talking about communication here. The core of this is how do you communicate with other people. If you are effective, you certainly don’t need to change to sell Real estate.

• You will have to learn the craft, but at the end of the day it will still be you selling and listing homes and property.

• Last, I have found that most successful REALTORS find their groove or niche or even rhythm to being a successful REALTOR and then build on that.

• Further I have found that the majority of them are pretty well based, happy people and easy to deal with. There are exceptions of course, but in general this is a good, comfortable business to be in.

Past Marketing Director for CBS network-Fender music division, covering National and International markets. Sales manager and Vice President for IMC-distributors of AKAI. President, Studiommaster, worlwide company in the recording industry. Basically, I have a strong International marketing and business background. Most recent Sales Manager for Coldwell Banker Schmitt Real estate Florida Keys. And owner of Florida Real Estate Network-an information website for people relocating to Florida at http://www.flarren.com

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It’s true: Good customers want to help your business succeed. Let’s help them out.

As a small business owner you know your business better than anybody else. However, our experience shows that many small business owners and marketing managers need help in clarifying and clearly stating their own company Brand.

Lots of people talk about word-of-mouth advertising. Creating successful word-of-mouth is much more art than science. Think of it as having your customers and employees carrying a Brand Banner for you.

Let’s be candid: even your best customers won’t wave your Brand Banner all the time. And they don’t need to. You only need them to wave it when the opportunity arises: when they are talking to another potential customer. In an earlier article we discussed the importance of helping mavens develop a positive view of your business. A typical satisfied customer won’t supply you with the quality or number of referrals that a true maven will, but even one referral is better than zero.

There is a pivotal moment in the customer referral process: you are about to see a warm body walking through your door–or not–depending on what your customer says about you. Your customer needs a Brand Banner that is easy to repeat and memorable.

As a marketer it’s your job to supply her with that Brand Banner. Maybe you give her one very tightly focused sentence or phrase that sums up all your business does and is. Sometimes an effective slogan can be so powerful and memorable that the customers believe it and actively pass it on. Usually such slogans must go beyond cute and carry some meaningful content, but not always. A slogan is a part of your Package, and ideally everything about your Package should reinforce the Brand.

A good Brand Banner must be focused, and that focus should re-iterate your brand’s position in the mind of the current customer. If you aren’t clearly positioned in the mind of the customer, then how can the customer possibly refer your friend to you in any type of meaningful way?

Clearly focusing your Brand Banner around your position will help to keep your Brand sticky. In another article we will show how you can draw from your experience to create promotions as well as the Brand Banner that is memorable and easy to repeat.

© 2006 Marketing Hawks

Have you ever spent hundreds or thousands of dollars placing an ad in a magazine and not have a good response? Have you been confused as to why your ad did not work like you had hoped?

Here are 9 basic tips for advertising your business in magazines.

1. Color ads are generally more effective than black/white ads. The exception is, if the page you are advertising is in color and your ad is black/white. The black/white ad can even be more profitable if it is done well.

2. A full page ad is often thought to do better. Again there can be exceptions to the rule. If you have a black/white ad against color ads, you can have the ad smaller and generate more response. Or, if your ad is placed in a more opportune location in the magazine.

3. The most effective placements in a magazine are the following: First the back cover of the magazine, second, is the inside front two pages. Third, the inside back two pages. Also good placements for ads are on the outside of each page. As people browse through, they will see those ads before they see ads closer to the center.

4. Ads that are placed with wording around them are ideal. The reason being that while people are reading they will glance more than once at the ad. It gives you more exposure time. Remember, you only have a few seconds to capture someone’s attention.

5. The ad itself needs to be neat and eye catching. If there is too much verbiage, you have lost potential business. Most people are visual and will not take the time to read a lengthy ad. Make sure to get your point across with a picture (or pictures) and words.

6. Bullet Point your ideas. Keep them brief and to the point. Take time to think about your company. Make a list of the most important things your company offers. What are you most passionate about? Translate those ideas to your ad.

7. Make sure phrases, words, prices, phone numbers, etc., are eye catching. Use various fonts, sizes of fonts, bold, italic, etc., to draw attention to different points. If the font on the ad is the same, it will blend in and important information will be lost.

8. It is critical when placing an ad, to choose a magazine that hits your target market. If you sell health products, advertise in a chiropractic magazine. If you have a home based business, advertise in a home based business magazine or entrepreneur magazine.

9. Get statistics from the company. Number of circulation, areas of circulation, how the magazine is distributed, etc.

I am convinced that you can have effective advertising if you use these guidelines. The goal is to keep advertising costs to a minimum and still receive the response you are looking for. Statics show that people will look at an ad up to seven times before responding. Be patient, your phone may or may not start ringing off the hook. However, if you have done everything right you will receive good business from your advertising.