Don't Overlook The Easy Sales

by Bob Leduc

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.

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:
Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards"
Phone: 702-658-1707 after 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

About the Author