I regularly work with small business owners who are so focused on growing their customer base that they ignore their existing customers.

Existing Customers Are More Profitable

What most don’t realize is that existing customers are far more profitable than new customers. In fact, it can cost you 5 to 10 times more to get a new customer than it does to service an existing customer. In addition, if you can increase an existing customers’ loyalty or purchase frequency by just 5%, you can increase your profitability between 25% and 85%!

So why is that? Well, when you consider how much effort goes into getting a new customer on the books, it becomes very clear. Think about how many prospects you phoned or emailed. How many quotes did it take to convert one of those prospect into a customer? How many appointments did you have and how far did you have to drive and still not get an order? So when add it all up, getting new customers can be a very expensive proposition. But of course we never take those costs into consideration. That would be too painful.

Existing Customers Trust You

Now compare that to your existing clients. They already know and trust you. That makes it far easier and quicker to get in front of them again and introduce some of your other products or services. In other words you have history with them. Of course you can only do this if you have been collecting their contact information all along. I know of companies that have done business with 1000’s of customers but have not taken the time to collect and manage these customers contact information- What a shame!

So let me ask you a couple questions. What would you do if you couldn’t get any new customers and could only sell to your existing clients? How would change the way you do business?

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2016

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Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Prior to starting my own business, I literally devoured everything I could about owning and running a company. One thing that I could never understand was how a perfectly good business ended up going bankrupt because of cash flow problems. It wasn’t until I started my own first enterprise that I quickly learned that regardless of how profitable you were, it didn’t matter until that money was in the bank- Cash flow ruled!

Cash flow in a business is much like the oxygen we mere mortals need to survive. Getting paid for what we do is like breathing in, it’s the oxygen our business needs to survive. On the other hand, paying our bills is like breathing out. 

Much like our bodies, we can’t just breathe out nor can we just keep paying bills, we need a constant source of cash coming into our businesses and the only way to do that is to make sure our receivables are current.

Get Over It!

All too often I hear owners tell me they don’t want to annoy their customers by constantly bugging them. To this I usually respond with “get over it”. You’re entitled to your money and you need to get a little more serious about it. If dealing with consumers, don’t you leave or let them leave without being paid in full.

With services like Square or Paypal you can accept credit cards on the spot, so there are no excuses. Getting paid in a timely manner ensures you give your business the oxygen it needs for it’s survival.

If you have a topic idea, send me an email and if I use your suggestion, I’ll send you an digital version of my book Get More LIFE Out Of Your Business

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

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Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.