Get out that diary

If you want to boost your sales quickly, where should you look first? the most obvious people to contact are:

• current clients / customers
• ex clients / customers
• almost clients / customers

Current clients - It's nearly always worthwhile asking existing clients or customers if they want to spend more with you - in a services type of environment they may have a new problem that they want to solve and aren't sure that you are the right team to solve it. If it is a product then send out reminders to people who have bought recently to remind them that you're there, they already understand your quality and how easy you are to buy from.

Ex customers - People can stop buying for a range of reasons, and very often it has nothing to do with the price and quality of what you are supplying. Very often it is simply not the right time. Your reminder that you are still around can bring you further forward in people's minds and encourage them to have a proper conversation about what they need. As a group though, they are still warm prospects because they have bought a product or a service from you. They should be much easier targets than a series of new names acquired through some form of list.

Almost clients - In a way this is the most difficult group. They have got close to making a purchase but never actually committed themselves. They may not even return your phone calls when you leave a message for them. Well, we've got some businesses that fall in this category and I've been thinking harder about how you can open up a new dialogue with them. I'll leave you to think about the problem overnight and I'll post my thoughts on it some time over the week-end.

Tags:

• BusinessDevelopment
• Marketing