Service is the New Sales and Marketing

Have you checked the backyard?

Last year I read the book “the Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. It tells the story of a young man who travels to seek his fortune. At the end of the book (spoiler alert) our hero learns that all the wealth he ever needed was in his own backyard.

Sometimes as business owners we need to take the journey to learn something new, but at other times we can listen and trust the advice of experts who have made the journey before us.

One such situation occurs with the search for ‘new business’. Most business owners I speak with are looking afar for their next dream client without having really looked at the clients they already have.

It’s amazing the value that you can find when you revisit a customer you have helped in the past. I’m often surprised that those industries with the longest time-gaps between sales such as real estate or furniture removals seem to be the ones that understand the value of a client relationship more than the rest.

If the average is 7 years between a sale in these industries, imagine the opportunity in your business. By applying a simple, yet effective after sales marketing process you can keep your customers coming back time after time, without the need to continually build new relationships or ‘close a sale’.

The hard work has already been done with your existing clients; they know you, like you and, if you’ve done the right thing, now trust you. Keeping the relationship alive from here is simply a case of creating relevant touch points with them over time.

Offer information and insights that help them do more. Pick up the phone and speak with them – ask how they are going and what’s new in their world. Offer products and services that you truly believe will help them in their current position.

Sounds like a lot of work, but it’s nothing compared to the dollars, time and effort you’ll spend to try and capture the attention of someone who doesn’t even know you yet.

So what are you doing after the sale? Do you have a process?

And by process, I don’t mean a sterile, robotic system, that removes all personality. I’m talking about a process that amplifies and enhances the values that your customers appreciate. A process that builds the relationship, with elements that are human as well as those that are automated.

A simple ‘thank you’ referral strategy increases business by 20% on average. This is only one of hundreds of different approaches you could string together to increase return enquiries and sales.

You could segment your customers into markets by the different problems you solve for them and create separate after sales marketing systems that communicate your personality and how they should think of you for future service and solutions. Imagine the effectiveness of that.

If you’re stuck on what approach to take with your customers, you can contact me at the studio and I’ll show you what is working for others in your situation.

Yes, it’s important to have inbound ‘new customer’ marketing activities. Yes, it’s important to create marketing processes with multiple touch points. But given the rise of competition in your industry, it’s never been more important to work hard on those existing relationships. Because if you can deliver a lifetime of value to your current customers, especially after a sale, then they’ll provide you with a lifetime of business at a fraction of the cost and effort experienced by your competitors.

The gold is in your own backyard. It just takes a little effort to find it.

Are you Ready?

If you're ready to get serious about your sales funnel, we're ready to get you started. Contact us to discover what after sales marketing systems are working for other business owners.