Businesses spend a lot of time and money marketing to potential customers, but they often overlook the importance of marketing their services to current customers. It's an easy thing to overlook when you assume that your current clients know about all of your services—but do they really?
If every client bought every single thing you offer, you probably wouldn’t have the bandwidth to take care of all of them. Some business owners worry about that, and therefore don't focus on marketing to existing clients. But that's putting the cart before the horse.
If you look at it another way, a higher percentage of your clients utilizing a higher percentage of your product creates more money and resources to invest in the necessary infrastructure to fill all those orders or provide those services.
One of the things you're trying to do with traditional marketing is expose people to your company so that they become familiar with the company and with you as a person, but your existing customers already know you and your company! Why not take advantage of that and market additional services to an existing client base?
Let's say you have a list of 500 current clients versus a prospect pool of 50,000 in your immediate geographic area. You could do a one-time postcard blast to those 50,000 prospects, or you could send a series of 10 postcards about additional services to your existing clients.
Your existing clients are more likely to look at the postcard rather than toss it in the trash. They know you and trust you, so if they see an additional service of interest, they're more likely to call you.
But more importantly, you've spent one-tenth of the money you would marketing to prospects, and your return on investment will be higher.
The same approach applies to email marketing, paid ads on social media, or any other form of marketing. Of course, it also applies outside the marketing realm as well, such as with sales calls and meetings.
In your marketing strategy, don't overlook the opportunity to increase services with people who already know, like, and trust you. Know who your ideal market is: the people who are already paying you. Make sure they know about additional services you offer.
About the Authors
Mike Crandall
Mike Crandall is a Speaker, Consultant, Coach and Trainer focused on Sales, Management, and Leadership Development.
He's also the owner of Sandler Oklahoma, a world leader in innovative sales, management, and leadership training. They offer consulting, coaching, and training for individuals and organizations serious about professional development and growth.
Mike is the author of "Motivational Management The Sandler Way" and has written a sales column for several years.
Tim Priebe
Tim Priebe is a public speaker, author, columnist, and the owner of T&S Online Marketing. He helps businesses that are worried they don’t have the expertise or time required to invest in doing their own digital marketing. He helps them plan where and how much to invest and often helps execute the plan.
Tim’s company helps with websites, social media, blogging, email newsletters, Google rankings, and online video. Tim is the author of several online marketing books, including "102 Tweets," "Blog a Week," and "Online Marketing Mindshift."
