Your Customers Purchase from You If you just leave it up to your customers to purchase from you only when they remember you, you will probably get minimum purchases. Out of sight -- out of mind. But, if you are proactive, and remind them about your company and why they should purchase from you now, you will maximize the number of purchases. Here are five ways to do that: 1. FOLLOW-UP CONSISTENTLY Most business owners are very passive when it comes to marketing their businesses. They may have a few hundred customers who have purchased from them in the past, but they rarely, if ever, contact those customers to remind them of their business and their special offers. They assume, if they want to buy, they'll remember us. No, they won't. They will always purchase from the company that shows how much they want and appreciate their business. If you don't follow-up with your customers on a frequent basis, and one of your competitors does, you can easily lose that customer. Does follow up mean to hound them to buy? Absolutely, not. We are following up with you right now. We are providing you with information that you want and that will help you. You can do the same thing with your customers. It can be as simple as passing on a copy of an article you think they would be interested in. Or it could be as elaborate as a newsletter. Of course, in addition to passing on useful information, you would also make them an offer on one of your products or services. Remember the Give to Get philosophy. Every time we follow up with our list of prospects and customers, we are inundated with sales orders. You can be too. 2. CONTINUITY PROGRAM You've seen them before. You probably have participated in one or two; Frequent Flyer Miles programs, or buy 9 meals and your 10th one is free. Our local sandwich shop offers a free sandwich after you buy ten. And they also offer Double Punch Tuesday. They want to increase their business on Tuesdays, so if you buy on a Tuesday, your Continuity Card gets punched twice. It's a fun program, that gets people coming back more often than they would have. People love a deal. Let's repeat that -- people love a deal! If you want to get your current customers buying more often from you, then give them a deal for doing so. Create a simple program where if they buy so many times from you they get the next one free. Keep your eyes open and look for examples of continuity programs in your marketplace. Then put your creative cap on and see how you can apply them to your business. 3. INCLUDE SPECIAL SALES FLYERS WITH EVERY ORDER Every customer should get a promotional flyer with every purchase they make. Keep reminding them of your other products, and special offers. Every one of our products goes out with a special flyer promoting all of our additional products with a mail-in, fax-in order form. Every week we receive orders on these order forms. Those are orders that we probably wouldn't have received if we hadn't packaged our promotional flyers and order forms in with our products. 4. MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS FEEL IMPORTANT Human nature never changes. People always want to feel important. When a customer feels special and important when doing business with a company, they don't forget it. They show their appreciation by buying more, and more often. It should go without saying, but we'll say it anyway, you should always treat your customers like gold. The way you answer your phone will make people feel important or like an interruption. The way you service them will make them feel like you appreciate their business or like they are a major inconvenience. Next time you go to a restaurant, take special note of how you were greeted and treated. Were you ignored and made to feel invisible -- if so, how did you feel? Not very important, I'd imagine. Or were you greeted with a warm, welcoming smile? Customers won't tolerate being treated shabbily, on the phone or in person, by the owner, or by an employee. Most won't voice their displeasure -- less than 4% of unhappy customers complain -- they will just take their business elsewhere. Don't brush this point aside. Poor customer service is a big problem in small and large businesses alike. If you want your customers to buy more often from you, then ensure that every interaction with your business makes them feel like royalty. 5. PROVIDE YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH PREFERRED CUSTOMER OFFERS Right in line with making your customers feel important, is making them feel special -- preferred. Everyone likes to feel that they got a special deal. What better way to get your customers to feel good about your business than by giving them a special preferred offer -- an offer that others don't get. We do business with quite a few vendors, and the ones that understand this simple concept get the bulk of our business. One vendor in particular, not only sends us special preferred offers on products we have purchased from them in the past, but they actually call us once a month to make us even better offers. And we buy every time. It can be a simple discount, or a special bonus. You can send an e-mail or a letter to your very best customers and let them know how much you appreciate their business and that you would like to show your appreciation with a special preferred offer on your products or services. You could also send them a special Gift Certificate for them to apply to their next purchase. 6. SEND THEM A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER We've already mentioned how important it is to keep in frequent contact with your customers. Here's one of the best ways to do that -- a monthly newsletter filled with tips, advice, and helpful articles that your customers would appreciate. The key here is to always include a special offer in each issue. You don't want to just send out a newsletter without an offer. We see businesses do this every day. You also don't want to send your customers a 'brag and boast' newsletter. Your customers don't want to read about you and your company. They want to read about things that will make their lives better, more productive, more fun. Remember, everyone listens to the same radio station, 'WIFM - What's In it For Me?' Focus on them and their needs, not on you. 7. SEND THEM A HOLIDAY OR BIRTHDAY CARD WITH A SPECIAL OFFER Joe Girard, the Guinness Book of World Records, car salesman sold more cars than anyone in history. His primary strategy? Keep in touch with all of your customers often. Every one of his past customers received a birthday card on their birthday, as well as a holiday card on every major holiday. That amounted to over 14,000 mailings a month via snail mail. In addition to wishing his customers a happy birthday, or happy holiday, guess what he included in every mailing? Yes, a special offer! He enclosed his business card in every envelope with the words, 'If you're thinking of buying a car, I have a special deal for you.' He would also mention that if they knew of anyone else who was looking for a car, that he could give them a special deal too, and he would give them a special referral gift. Every one of his customers thought of Joe Girard first whenever they considered buying a car. If you want your customers to think of you first, then you need to keep in touch in a friendly and positive way. People buy things they want, from people they know, like and trust. Establish a strong and consistent relationship with your customers and they will respond like the Energizer Bunny -- they'll keep on buying, and buying, and buying . . . 8. DELIVER QUALITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT MEET OR EXCEED YOUR CUSTOMERS' EXPECTATIONS In addition to keeping in touch with your customers, one of the best ways to ensure that your customers buy from you again and again, is to provide them with quality products and services. Always try to get your customers to say 'Wow!' when they experience your products or services. If you understand that people are desperately seeking businesses that they can trust to provide them with the solutions to their problems, you will have no problem attracting new customers and building a strong and rapidly growing customer base. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2000-2023 by Joe Gracia - All Rights Reserved. All content, graphics, and HTML code are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without explicit written permission. 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