value of your customers will increase. And you know what that means... more
profits!
One way to get them to buy from you again is to simply write a letter to
your customers and ask them to. (In fact, this is one of the fastest and
most reliable ways to quickly suck a ton of cash into any business.)
That's right, just ask for it. Your customers want solutions, and your
products and services provide these solutions. There's no law which says
you have to wait until they come to you with a problem before you offer
them a solution.
And when you do write to them and offer solutions, they'll respond. In
fact, you'll be utterly amazed when you see how well they respond.
This step does require you to know a few things about your customers. You
need to know their names, addresses, and phone numbers. If you haven't been
capturing this vital information, start right away.
Maintaining a complete customer base is critical to your success.
You see, we'll show you dozens of ways to leverage your customer base into
almost obscene profits -- and at the same time make your customers happier
than ever. But, without their names and addresses, you can't capitalize on
these hot techniques.
By the way, with the price of computers and software so cheap, you should
computerize every aspect of your business that you can -- at least your
customer files.
Remember, your customer base is the most valuable asset your business has.
It's more valuable than your cash in the bank, your inventory, patents,
trademarks, even real estate.
After all, what's a business without customers?
Let's talk a little bit about your business.
You spend a certain amount of your resources to attract and sell new
customers. The initial sale you make to these new customers pays for these
customer acquisition costs. In other words, if you spend $1,000 on an ad to
bring in customers, and get 100 customers to respond to that ad, it cost
you $10 per customer.
And when you make that first sale, the profit from it pays for the ad and
(hopefully) leaves you a little profit. But if you don't make much profit
on that first sale, don't worry, it's OK. That's just the front end.
Remember when you calculated the lifetime value of your average customer?
Look at the difference between one average sale and the total business that
customer will do with you over his or her life.
You see, you can probably afford to actually lose money to get a new
customer because of all the additional business that customer will do with
you in the future. All these additional sales are called The Back End.
As you can imagine, the back end (if you work it) is gigantic compared to
the front end. In fact, that's where the real money is made.
It costs you about eight times more to get a new customer than it does to
resell an existing customer. There are two reasons for this.
1.) Once you've sold someone the first time, you know who he or she is. You
know they have a use or desire for what you sell. They've already qualified
themselves as a buyer of your kind of products and services.
2.) Once you've sold someone the first time, and delivered on all of your
promises, they'll develop a certain degree of trust in you. If you service
them better than anyone else, they'll be predisposed to buy from you again
and again.
All you have to do is ask them to.
If you want to learn how to turn the concept of The Back End into your own
private little gold mine, see our best-selling book, Secrets From The Lost
Art Of Common Sense Marketing, pages 155 - 177. And, guess what? You'll get
the book in your FREE package!
Now, when is the last time you wrote to all of your customers and asked
them to buy something?
If the answer is more than six weeks ago, you're missing thousands of dollars.
Look at it this way. As long as you provide great service, great value, and
great products, customers should be eager to do repeat business with you
(and refer others to you). Since you've already spent the money to get
these customers the first time, doesn't it make sense to keep them?
Well, the best way to keep them is to service them to death. Every time
they make a purchase send them a thank you note.
Follow that up with a phone call. Use the opportunity to answer any
remaining questions they may have. Often they'll ask about things which
lead you into selling an additional service, option or accessory.
The key is to communicate with your customers often.
The more you "talk" to your customers, the more special they feel. And when
they feel like they're being treated special, they buy from you over and
over. That's how you build customer loyalty
Write to them on a regular and frequent basis. Always make them a special
deal!
Send them a new, irresistible offer every month or six weeks. Different
people have different buying cycles, so you want to be certain to be there
with a great offer when they're ready to buy.
If you have a group of customers who haven't bought from you in a while
(you know, the inactive ones), write to them too. Offer them some incentive
to come back and do business with you again. Every one of them you get to
come back adds big bucks to your bottom line.
By the way, if you don't think you can write a compelling sales letter,
consider this.
Good copywriting is simply salesmanship in print.
It's the same as selling in person or on the phone, except your reader
can't ask questions. You've got to be sure your letter (or any advertising
piece) anticipates and answers any questions the prospect may have.
If you have trouble writing (or think you can't write), try this technique.
Get a tape recorder and tape all of your presentations and sales pitches
for a while.
When you've taped several good sessions, have your secretary (or an outside
transcription service) transcribe all of your tapes. You'll probably end up
with dozens of pages.
Next, take a paper cutter to these pages. You heard me right. You should
cut all of these pages into separate paragraphs.
Once you've finished with your cutting, organize the paragraphs into three
piles.
Pile one contains all those paragraphs which explain a direct benefit to
the reader. These are the most important selling points of your
presentations, and they're the most important selling points of your new
sales letter. Remember, these are specific benefits to the prospect.
They answer The Big Question... What's in it for me?
Pile two contains all of the features of your product or offer, back-up
material, testimonials, etc. These are all the paragraphs which contain
statements which support the claims in the first pile.
Pile three contains the rest. This is mostly junk. It's the off-the-wall
stuff that doesn't really add anything to the letter. Throw this pile out.
Next, take the first and second piles and organize the paragraphs into a
logical, coherent sequence so each paragraph or thought leads to the next one.
Once you've put them in order, number each of these little pieces of paper
and bring them to your secretary (or other typist). Have the typist retype
these little pieces back into a flowing, continuous report.
A good tip is to have the typist put an extra space or two between each
paragraph so you'll have an easier time editing it.
Finally, edit the letter until you get a smooth, flowing (and compelling)
sales pitch.
This technique may sound overly simplistic at first, but trust us... it works.
It's one of the hot techniques we'll teach you in your Special Report,
Printing Money... Legally (page 18), included in your FREE package.
And when you're finished with your sales letter, run it through your
Advertising Analyzer And Checklist (also included in your FREE package.)
This is the same checklist we run every one of our ads and letters through.
It's like having the world's greatest copywriting editor sitting by your
side, supercharging everything you write. You simply can't miss.
OK, so writing to your customers (including the inactive ones) and offering
them irresistible deals is one of the best ways to get them to buy from you
more often. What else can you do?
If you're in retail, consider doing a quarterly "Private Letter Sale." This
is a closed-door, invitation-only event especially for your regular customers.
Send them a letter explaining how you'd like to thank them for their past
support by holding this special event. Describe some of the incredible
bargains they'll be able to take advantage of that you aren't offering to
the general public.
Come up with some incredible deals (perhaps closeouts, etc.), and write a
compelling sales letter describing them..
The letter really only has to do two things... make them feel special and
rewarded for giving you their past business, and make them drool at the
thought of the deals available at this special event.
Hold the event on a day you'd normally be closed, (or after hours), and
make a party out of it. Get the festive atmosphere going with refreshments,
music, door prizes, and store decorations.
You'll be surprised at how much extra business this will generate every
four months or so.
A detailed example of this (plus 12 other hot cash- generating secrets) is
in the special 8-page report called, 13 Quick Cash-Generating Techniques
For Any Business. It's included in the package we've reserved for you.
What else can you do to get customers coming back again and again?
We know of a gas station which added an automatic brushless carwash. The
smart owner started giving customers special membership cards to his
wash-a-week club.
Here's how it worked. Club members got a free car wash with no strings
attached every week. All they had to do was come in on their assigned day
(which was notated on their membership card), and they'd get their free wash.
Guess where the line for the carwash started? That's right. Right in front
of the gas pumps.
Not only did he sell a ton more gas, but he also offered carwash options
like hot-wax, under-spray, and wheel and tire cleaning. Most people bought
gas and one or more of the options.
But, most important, they came in almost every week. Soon, the station
owner opened several more stations. Where do you think he got the money?
Let's say you sell a service that your customers use on a fairly regular
basis.
This could be anything (carpet cleaning, pool cleaning, fitness training,
sun tanning, brokerage services, dry cleaning, automobile maintenance, lawn
care, etc.).
Offer them special savings by going on a continuity program. This is where
they agree to use your service every week, month, or whatever interval
makes sense, and you give them a special discount.
Try to get them on a monthly preauthorized credit card debit so you can
automatically charge their credit card the monthly amount on the first of
every month.
This way, you don't have to rely on them coming to you, you've already been
authorized to perform the service, and just put it on autopilot.
It continues this way until the customer tells you to stop. Some people
call this a TFN ('Til Further Notice) program.
Look at any good book, record, or CD club. This is exactly what they do. If
you don't tell them not to send this month's selection, they automatically
send it and bill you.
Continuity programs can make you a fortune!
A restaurant owner used to have a monthly special deal. When you ate there,
you'd be given a card for a free dessert every time you came back that month.
The next month, you got a card for a free glass of wine or soft drink every
time you came in that month. Another month it was a free appetizer. Another
month a free side dish. He developed an army of regular customers who
brought their friends and family to his restaurant.
All of these methods for getting your customers to buy from you more often
(as well as the dozens of additional things you'll learn from your FREE
package) do work. But they depend on one thing...
Do your customers like doing business with you?
If you don't know, or aren't sure, you simply must read the special 8-page
report we've got for you called, How To Get Filthy Rich By Overservicing
Your Customers. You'll learn how to turn your customers into your best
salespeople and get them to buy from you over and over. Plus, they'll
actually drag their friends and associates to you and force them to buy too.
The important point is, if you take good care of your customers and ask
them to buy from you more often, most of them will. And guess what happens
to the lifetime value of your customers?
That's right. It soars.
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