How to generate new business from lapsed clients
By Paul Green
There are two ways to boost sales in your business: either get more clients, or sell more to your existing clients.
Most people focus on acquiring new clients. But that’s crazy! Persuading someone to buy from you the first time is hard.
Existing clients are already in a relationship with you. And as long as you didn’t screw up, it’s easier for you to a) talk to them, and b) sell them something else.
Where most businesses fall down is forgetting to keep in touch. Look through your files – how many one off jobs have you done for a client who you’ve never spoken to again? It’s likely a number of those clients will have had extra work they COULD have put your way, had you stayed top of mind.
The secret is simple: Build a system to stay in touch with every single client as long as you can
Here are some easy ways to do this:
Email newsletters: The cheapest way of staying in touch with clients. Collect their email addresses and send them something once a week, fortnight or month. Your web guys can help with the technology to send bulk emails out, or there are many websites that will do it for you very cost effectively. Ensure emails are sent in small batches to avoid them being marked as spam, and ensure clients can easily unsubscribe. For the content, avoid blatant selling, and instead focus on giving them information that will add value. Case studies, news updates and free advice are perfect – and more likely to make your email a regular read.
Printed newsletters: These have made a real comeback in the last few years. They are incredible powerful – and often a great way to reach high level executives who wouldn’t necessarily read an email newsletter. Again, don’t try to sell. Instead focus on good, valuable content that is well written and interesting to read. Using a professional designer and a good quality printer is essential – the best content won’t work if its not packaged correctly.
Other content: Consider starting a blog (a kind of web diary) or putting free articles on your website. Link to them from newsletters. If you operate in a particularly technology-aware industry, you could even do a regular podcast (a piece of audio for MP3 players).
Phone & post: Send clients a relevant clipping from the paper with a handwritten note. Or give them a free mug. You could just phone to see how business is. Make it personal and not sound like a sales call.
Be consistent: Whatever you do, find a way to do it to a high quality, consistently. So many businesses send out one quarterly newsletter and never send another. You need to do this month in month out to be good at it. Make it part of your culture and build simple but formal systems to do this.
