Customers Are Prospects Too
By Bob Leduc   ©2004 All Rights Reserved

Your customers already know you and trust you. It's easier to get more business from them than to get any business from somebody who never bought from you. Their business is also highly profitable because there's no advertising expense involved.

Here are 3 ways you can increase the income you get from your customers. All 3 are effective for marketing online and/or offline ...and they cost little or nothing to implement.

1. UPSELLING

You don't have to wait until after making a sale to increase the income you get from a customer. You can start while the customer is in the process of buying for the first time. It's called "Upselling". Here's how you can use it.

Collect the ordering information from your customer. Then casually offer them an opportunity to upgrade to a better quality product or service -- or to add another related item to the order. Include a special price that's ONLY available if the customer accepts it NOW.

It's surprising how receptive a customer is to an attractive offer when he or she is already in the process of spending money. Most businesses I've surveyed report about 50 percent acceptance of their upselling offers.

TIP: You can even include upselling offers on your web site. For example, I recently ordered a software upgrade at a web site. After selecting the item a pop up message asked me, "Would you like to add (item) to your order for $(special price)? This price is only available if you order now." It worked. I answered, "yes".

2. BACKEND SELLING

Many successful businesses make most of their profit from backend sales -- selling other related products or services to customers who previously bought from them. Once a person buys from you it's easy to get them to buy again.

If you don't have other products yourself, look for companies with products or services related to yours. Make an arrangement to offer their products to your customers for part of the profit.

On the Internet you can sign up with an affiliate program offering products or services similar to your primary product. Just announce the program to your customers and include your endorsement. The affiliate program handles everything else and pays you a commission.

3. REFERRAL SELLING -- PLUS...

Do you have a system to get referrals from satisfied customers? If not, you're losing a lot of profitable sales you could easily get.

One way to get referrals is with a brief Customer Survey. Send it by postal mail, email, fax or post it on a web page. The one I use asks only 3 questions:

1. What did you like best about our product (or service)?

2. What can we do to improve the value of our product (or service) for you?

3. Who do you know trying to solve (state the problem you solved for your customer)? Or: Who do you know that wants to (state the benefit provided by your product or service)?

The first 2 questions focus attention on the benefits you provide. Your customer is more likely to volunteer referrals when they're thinking about the value of those benefits.

You'll also gain something from the answers to the first 2 questions. The first question often generates a response you can use as a testimonial (with your customer's permission). The second question may provide an early warning of a problem you need to solve -- or alert you to an opportunity you can exploit.

Start using Upselling, Backend Selling and Referral Selling to get more business from your existing customers. You'll produce highly profitable sales without spending money on advertising.