As a member of several business marketing groups, I constantly invade discussions of how to grow your business during these challenging times. Everyone is looking for the next greatest technique to drive new customers to your business.Whether it is network marketing, multi-level marketing, or viral marketing one key fact remains; "take care of your existing customer base". In a song written by Stephen Stills it says, "if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one your with". No better advice can be given as businesses seek to increase revenue and profits. We may not be able to lure the thousands of members of the various social networks, but we can build a better relationship with the customers we already have.
The best feature of proper client relationship management is the ease with which it can be implemented. If business is slow, take the time to write a letter to your existing customers to thank them for their loyalty. Explain how you would like to partner with them to create a better company and provide products and services that are important to them. Ask them to join you and other customers in a round table discussion, webcast, or any number of low cost conferencing.
During this time find out information concerning their current demographics. The affect of the economy on their purchasing, which items are considered crucial in their daily operations, and the overall affect of the economy on their friends and family. The next step would be to unveil a program of value added services that you have designed to not only maintain their current status as your customer, but create an atmosphere where they describe what they would buy if there has been a extended period since their last purchase. Also, in subsequent sessions, try to become more familiar with your clients; ask them for birthdays, anniversaries, and other important dates by using surveys that get into the profile of your customer. Add those facts to your database system and send e-cards to mark those occassions shared.
Once you have established a stronger relationship with your client, ask if they would recommend one other person whom you may contact to broaden the scope of opinions and offer a thank you gift to your client. The new person represents an opportunity to peer into your clients circle of influence and to test the strength of the value added product/service you collectively developed. As you begin dialogue with the new prospect, allow the original client to sit in on discussions to see how the product he/she helped designed is received by a person in their peer group. Just imagine the empowerment your client would feel if it was well recieved and the opportunity for greater partnership should it not. This is truly a win-win for the business and creates a stronger bond with its client base.
I’m sure you are beginning to see through my attempt to cloak the fact that I too am suggesting using viral and social marketing to grow business, but the difference is you are doing it on a personal basis with someone who knows you and now will have a relationship that causes them to want to see you succeed.











