Here’s a question to start your day.

What type of customer are you trying to attract?

Anyone who will spend their money on your products and services, most likely. That’s a nice goal, but why don’t we narrow it down a little bit.

There are three types of customers that every organisation should aim to attract. They’re the ones you really need in order to ensure success. These include:

• Valuable current customers
• The customers of your competitors
• Valuable customers you have lost

Let’s clarify. There’s a huge difference between a current customer and a “valuable” current customer. A current customer with a really tiny account demanding a huge level of customer service may not be valuable; nor is the guy who forgets to pay his bill every month. These are the customers who actually cost you money to keep. What you really want to do is provide stellar customer service to the guys who pay their bills on time and don’t ask you to go above and beyond the scope of your contract (not too often, anyway). Keep your current customers happy and, later on, up-sell additional products and services.

I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to go after the customers of your competitors. After all, your products and services are better than theirs. RIGHT? If the answer to that question was no, you’d better take a close look at your marketing plan.

Finally, any customer you lost (for any reason) should be saught after (unless, of course, they fall into the category of a customer not worth retaining – in which case you shoudl let them go). Otherwise, remarket your products and services. Perhaps they’re not happy with their new provider and were too embarassed to come back to you. Maybe they realized later that they weren’t getting the same level of service or the same value for their money. It’s up to you to find out.

Make sure you include an evaluation of your customer base the next time your review your current sales process. There may be gaps in the market you haven’t considered and they may mean the difference between failure and success!

Sean

Sales Expert - Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker